RWBY: The Jet Chronicles - Part 1: Where Light Fades
by CrazyCrashCybr
Summary: After the slaughter of the invading Grimm, Ruby and her team are ready to rest a little after the whirlwind that was a simple outing into Grimm territory. Little do they know that their daily lives will be thrown into complete jeopardy by a chain of events that starts with Ruby meeting a new individual, one who is as powerful as he is mysterious.
1. Chapter 1 - Sunset Hill

The four girls gradually made their way to their dorm, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all barely able to keep their eyes open as they trudged down the corridor, each footfall weighted with tiredness. Ruby, however, despite feeling drained, was wide awake, in stark contrast to the rest of her team.

As they walked into their dorm room, Blake and Weiss immediately crashed into their beds, neither bothering to get changed. Yang was not going to be denied her sleep either, after saying "Night, Ruby.", she clambered onto her bunk, and, within seconds, Ruby could hear her sister's gentle snores start to permeate the room.

Ruby sat down in a corner of the room, looking at the sleeping beauties that made up her team. They had all been through a lot, she thought, and so had she. So why was she still wide awake? Ruby sighed, resting her legs, and slowly, her energy came back. She thought about studying for a test that Professor Port was going to give them in two days' time, but decided against it. Ruby knew that studying in an attempt to fall asleep only brought boredom, not tiredness.

She decided to go outside, to take a stroll in the numerous parks that surrounded Beacon. She picked up Crescent Rose, the cool feel of her weapon bringing with it the warmth of an old friend. Ruby smiled, her darling had been through nearly every bit of action she had. Walking down the corridor, she thought to herself. What did she want to do? It was incredibly boring, being on her own.

Ruby reached the door leading out of the building, and pulled it wide open. A cool breeze greeted her along with the deep orange sky that signified the onset of night was beginning. Ruby looked around her, seeing no one, before activating her Semblance, and speeding through Beacon. Yang had told her of a sweet spot near Emerald forest where one could watch the sunset, and Ruby wanted to check it out.

The spot itself lay on a grassy hill, overlooking the entrance to Beacon on one side and the Emerald forest on the other. Ruby looked up in time to see the gentle semi-circle sun that was dipping, and relaxed her shoulders. As Yang had told her, it was a nice sight to see.

Ruby was about to more towards the peak, when she saw a dark silhouette, seated on the peak of the hill. Ruby's mind tore between curiosity and suspicion, considering how the figure's posture gave nothing away, save for the fact that it was relaxing. It looked like a humanoid, but it was shrouded in unnatural shadows, showing as nothing more than a black silhouette.

Sighing, her curiosity getting the better of her, Ruby called out to the figure as she approached.

"Hello?"

The figure turned, and as Ruby neared it, the shadows immediately vanished, and as the boy gazed in her direction, she took in the person's appearance. He was dressed in black trousers and a black jacket, with a dark grey t-shirt underneath. He didn't have an overly handsome face, but seemed charming, with emerald green eyes that seemed a little sharp as he met her gaze, with short black hair that stuck out at the back, giving them the look of highly painful spikes. He was a similar height to Ruby, but just a little taller than her.

"Hello there." He responded. "I think we could both use some company. My name's Jet."

The figure seemed friendly enough to Ruby, and so she padded a little closer, cautiously.

"Hi," Ruby said, "I'm Ruby."

Jet smiled a welcoming smile.

"Why don't you join me? I often come up here to look at the sunset." He said, motioning towards a patch of grass close to him, but not so close that it was brought him within her personal space. Ruby sat down, and relaxed as he regarded her, treating Ruby to a slight dose of self-consciousness. "Are you from Beacon as well?" he asked.

"Yeah. What's your team?" she asked, trying and failing to sound a little tougher than she looked. Jet looked at her with slight amusement.

"Team L-I-J-N." he replied. "It's pronounced like the word Legion. We're a first year team, just like you, Ruby of team RWBY."

"How do you know my name?" Ruby worriedly inquired. At this, Jet laughed, a quiet but pronounced laugh.

"How could I not? Your team is rapidly becoming known amongst the other pupils here at Beacon." he chuckled, still keeping a firm gaze upon her.

There was something about his gaze that was causing a weird sensation in Ruby. Shaking it off, she asked "What's your leader like?"

"Leader?" came his response. "I'm the leader of LIJN. We're probably the only team that has their leader's letter elsewhere from the first letter. Though I probably don't look it." he joked.

Ruby smiled, her thoughts still wondering. What was it with this guy? Absent-minded looking Jet over, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" the boy asked. "This is a favorite spot of mine. I often come here. What about you?"

He had a curious way of speaking, a cross between formal and casual, but Ruby didn't mind. He seemed friendly enough, so she decided on the truth.

"My sister told me about this spot. It's nice." Ruby said.

Wanting to make things a little less awkward, she pulled out Crescent Rose and unfolded it. "What do you think of my weapon, Crescent Rose?" she asked, embedding the blade into the grass. Jet's eyes widened, but not from fear, it seemed. He reached out, Ruby letting go of her precious, and felt it, all the way from grip to barrel to blade.

"You've done a really good job making Crescent Rose." he said, his voice tinged with admiration. Ruby once again met his emerald eyes.

"How did you know I made it?" she asked. He laughed again.

"Ruby, any weapons geek like me can see the custom design and the unusual choice of high-calibre sniper rifle plus scythe." he said.

Ruby was starting to take a liking to him, but she wondered about his own weapon.

"What about your weapon?" she asked. Jet let go of Crescent Rose, and Ruby folded it away as he responded.

"I don't have a single weapon, like yourself. The one I'm currently using is this." he said, pulling from within his jacket a silver pole, similar in size to a classroom ruler. Jet stood up, and Ruby watched him, entranced, as the pole lengthened until it was the same height as Ruby herself. Then, purplish flames burst into life from the tip facing the sky, as twelve spikes protruded from this flaming end, each pointed outwards, curving over the flames. Jet twirled the staff, then embedded the non-flaming end into the ground. "Meet Shadow Meteor." he said, proudly, as Ruby rose to fully see the staff. "One part silver staff, two parts flamethrower, eleven parts death."

Ruby could only stare in wonder. It looked simplistic, but Ruby could see the exquisite craftwork, and felt unnerved by the purple flames now licking the spikes that covered them. Rarely was it that she was intimidated at first glance, but this one meant business, just like hers.

"That's incredible! Did you make that?" she asked.

"This one I did." Jet said. Ruby grinned, for she had finally found some-one with similar interests to her own. However, Jet checked his scroll as Shadow Meteor collapsed into its original form, spikes retracting and flames vanishing. Ruby looked around, and noticed how dark it had become.

"It's getting late, and by the looks of things we're looking at headaches in the morning." Jet said, showing Ruby his scroll. It was 11:30, way past when Ruby normally fell asleep. She was definitely feeling the exhaustion now, and was starting to feel her eyes droop. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"J…Jet." she mumbled, just as the boy in question noticed her starting to fall over.

"Oh crud." he cursed, as Ruby blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2 - Seals of Darkness

"WAKE UP!" came a shrill voice in Ruby's ear. Ruby jumped as if she had been hit by a lightning bolt and promptly fell off her bed, landing painfully on her back at the feet of her team mate, Weiss Schnee. Looking up, her vision blurry, she saw furious blue eyes piercing her sleepy brain as she struggled to find out what happened. She relaxed when she realized she was in her dorm room, though she didn't remember how she had gotten there.

Memories came rushing back, about everything that had happened. Jet, his weapon, the overwhelming feeling of tiredness. Had he brought her up here? Ruby looked up at Weiss, disorientated. Weiss, having no such distracting thoughts, pulled her teammate up to her feet, Ruby letting out a surprised little 'eep' as she was pulled sharply to her feet.

"It's a good thing you weren't attending classes today." Weiss said, shaking Ruby a little to help pull her back into reality. Ruby shook off the tiredness, then looked at Weiss.

"It's Thursday though." she said, as Weiss turned around and started making her a cup of coffee.

"Ozpin let us off for the day to recuperate." Weiss replied, returning with the coffee. Ruby frowned, she had never tried it before, and took a gentle sip, but nearly dropped it as it burned her lips. Weiss smiled inwardly as she said gently "Blow on it first." It was the girl's first time, after all.

Ruby did as she was advised, and after a while, remarked that she quite liked it. After a quick dash through the shower, they walked down to the library, intending to visit Blake. They found her at one of the computers, Ruby taking the one next to her, while Weiss sat between them.

On Blake's screen, they saw an online delivery service that had ten books currently in the trolley. Smirking, Ruby got to work as Weiss and Blake engaged in conversation. Their relationship had changed for the better, she noted as she searched through the list of teams currently operating from Beacon. Her cursor hovered over RWBY, but she passed over it.

After about 15 more teams, she found the one she was looking for, LIJN. Weiss, apparently having finished her conversation with Blake, gazed over at Ruby's screen as she clicked on the link.

"What are you looking at Ruby?" she asked.

"Oh, just another team." Ruby replied, looking through the data. LIJN consisted of four members, Lilac, Izzet, Jet and Nouvelle. Jet was the leader, as he had told her.

She looked over Lilac's profile first, which showed a smiling blonde girl, with pearl white eyes that reminded her of seashells on a beach. Her hair was down to her shoulders, and she looked about as tall as Ozpin, with muscular arms. She wielded a pair of whips, which were crackling with electricity.

Her semblance seemed to revolve around her hair, as Ruby continued to read. Apparently, she was able to elongate it, shorten it, and have it change colour at will. She could also transform it into other things. The electric whips were called "The Men of War".

Weiss tapped her shoulder. "Why are you interested in them?" she asked. Ruby looked up.

"Tell you later." she said quickly, concentrating on the screen. Izzet was next.

Another girl, this one short and thin, with flowing silver hair that reminded Ruby of her eyes each time she looked in the mirror, but her left eye was blue and the other was red. Her weapons were two parallel blades that ran across the outside of her arms, one blue, the other red, in symmetry to her eyes.

According to her profile, despite being a defensive fighter and a well-trained medic, she was one of the most powerful of her team, she had the power to manipulate time, and could be seen teleporting from place to place in a defensive fighting style.

Nouvelle was the next member Ruby checked out. She had flaming red hair, and looked to be a similar height to Jet. Her eyes were electric blue, even outmatching Weiss' eyes in the blue department. Ruby's attention was drawn to her weapon, however. It was a gold version… of Shadow Meteor! Labelled Flaming Meteor, it was held proudly by its owner. Her semblance was clearly fire based, kind of like Yang's.

Ruby, with confusion ever present, clicked on the last team member, the leader, Jet.

* * *

Jet perched himself on a spire of a building in downtown vale, maintaining a perfect balance on the single point with a single boot. His vigilance was normally eternal, as he scanned the roads, streets, and even dark alleys, in the light of the afternoon sun. Even as he did so, his mind began to wander. 'Did Ruby sleep alright?' he asked himself.

He recalled last night's memories. After getting ready to head back, Ruby was about to collapse. He barely had time to catch her, only managing it because he was quick. He'd gotten up to the window of Ruby's dorm room, and had crept though the still open window, tucked Ruby into her bed, and then crept out. He recalled a particularly tender feeling when he'd gazed upon the sweet little girl. Really, Ruby could be adorable.

Jet shook his head. He could think about that later, and more importantly, where HAD those thoughts come from? He had more pressing worries, as an audible zapping sound reached his ears. So they had made their move, he thought to himself.

He quickly spread black wings from underneath his jacket and took off from his perch. Almost immediately, a red and blue blur shot up next to him. Jet immediately spun around and kicked Izzet down, who had been about to swipe at him with her blades, but instead she fell incredibly fast down into the streets, where her blur faded.

Grinning, he plummeted down after her, folding in his wings and drawing Shadow Meteor, intent on finishing her in one hit. Before he could complete this dive, however, a body slammed into him with incredible heat and power.

Knocked out of his dive, Jet slammed into the nearest building, taking the body with him, going straight through the brick wall, with his aura protecting him. He quickly rose and faced his attacker, revealed to be Nouvelle, who leapt to her feet. Her flaming outfit combined with her hair gave her the look of a scorching flame.

Nouvelle gazed upon Shadow Meteor as Jet readied himself.

"Do you really expect to defeat me with zat thing?" she asked in a scornful tone with a strong French accent. Behind her, Izzet jumped through the hole in the roof, blades ready. She started to concentrate her power onto Nouvelle, who started to become blurred. Jet whistled, and Lilac joined the fray, leaping through the hole in the wall and wrapping her whips around Izzet before blasting her with electricity. Izzet attempted to turn to face her attacker, but she was rapidly numbed by the volts coursing through her slender frame and fell to the floor, defeated.

Losing the blurring, Nouvelle ran forward, but was intending to attack Jet while she was boosted by Izzet. Losing her momentum, she was an open target, and Jet did not hesitate, cracking her around the head with Shadow Meteor. As she fell, dazed, Jet simply said "I do." before turning to face Lilac.

She beamed at him, and yelled out "Victory!" as she ran over to hug Jet. Jet allowed her to collide with him, and the two shared in their victory hug, the gesture simply an act of friendship.

Izzet picked herself up, and looked towards the fallen Nouvelle, along with the hole in the wall. She turned to address Jet, but he merely winked.

"You know what to do Izzet." he said, reaching over to pat her on the shoulder. Izzet nodded, closed her eyes, and concentrated on the broken wall.

* * *

Ruby looked at the screen in shock. For once, the omniscient computers at beacon had finally failed to provide information to her. Weiss looked surprised too, and Blake had tiptoed over to observe. Yang had also joined them, her explanation for her absence being a need to "punch a couple of things."

All four girls were now looking at Jet's profile. There he was, in a similar outfit to the one he wore last night, except his undershirt was a dark blue. He was not wielding a weapon however, nor demonstrating his semblance.

The screen read "Weapon: UNKNOWN, Semblance: UNKNOWN. Jet is an unusual individual that has the ability to manipulate shadows, however this is not believed to be his semblance. He has been observed using several weapons on the field, leaving his true weapon unknown. He is believed to be a faunus, as wings protrude from his back, but his DNA registered as human during several examinations, leaving the nature of the wings to be determined. No other data available."

"Sounds shady." Yang commented, and the others turned to look at her. But why are you so interested Ruby?" she asked. Ruby herself was disappointed, she was hoping to find out a little more about the mysterious teen that had beckoned her to sit with him on Sunset Hill. He really was as mysterious as he seemed on that hill.

"I met him last night." Ruby said. "I couldn't sleep, so I went to Sunlight Hill and found him. I sat with him, and we talked about teams, weapons, but I felt really tired, and I blacked out. I guess he put me into my bed, after carrying me I mean."

"That explains what I saw last night." Blake said quietly. Everyone turned to look at her. "I woke up a little at the sound of our window opening. I saw a black shape carrying you, and it put you into your bed, even tucked you in. I couldn't tell who it was because it looked like just a shadow." Blake elaborated.

"I want to meet this guy." Yang said, standing up and stretching. "Not that I'm not thankful for what he did, but we don't know him." Weiss stood up too.

"I agree." she said. "I want to know what he has to say for himself for keeping you up so late."

Ruby was worried. "He's not a bad guy." she said, quickly.

"Maybe," Weiss was quick to argue, "but we don't know much about him either."

"I'd go too, if only to find out more." Blake chipped in.

Ruby sighed. "Okay, let's go over there and wait for him." she said reluctantly.

After reaching Sunset Hill, they found the familiar silhouette of Jet. It seemed as though he was dozing peacefully in the afternoon sun. Ruby walked over to him, and looked at his face. He still looked as charming as ever.

"Jet? Jet?" Ruby called.

Jet stirred, then opened his eyes. He seemed remarkably awake for a person that had only just been woken up.

"Afternoon Ruby." he said, sitting up. He turned around to see Weiss, Blake and Yang, all observing him, Weiss with her hands on her hips, eyes boring into his, Blake with a look of mild curiosity, and Yang causally smiling, waving at him.

"So this is team RWBY." he muttered to himself, and only Ruby heard him.


	3. Chapter 3 - Ice, Fire, and Darkness

For a moment, there was an awkward silence. Ruby, realising that Jet had no idea what the teammates' names were, spoke up.

"Ok," she said, clearing her throat, "Jet, this is Weiss, Blake and Yang. Team, this is Jet, the one I told you about."

Jet addressed each person in turn upon hearing their names, earning a short huff from Weiss, a tilt of the head from Blake and a cheerful "Hi" from Yang, which Jet returned with a smile. Weiss took a step forward, wanting answers.

"So, what were you doing with Ruby last night?" she asked, her voice dripping with venom. Jet said nothing for a moment. Ruby got the impression he was deciding how to answer that question, and decided to see how he reacted. She would step in if Weiss got too carried away.

"Just talking to her." Jet replied plainly, in a neutral voice. This did not seem to be what Weiss wanted, however, so she continued.

"What did you want with her?"

Jet paused, before saying, with a hint of anger only Ruby seemed able to hear, "Just a little company. As I'm quite sure you're aware, it can get pretty lonely up here."

"What were you talking about?" The question had come from Yang, trying to diffuse the tension. Both Ruby and Jet gave her a small smile of appreciation.

"Oh, Ruby and I have similar interests with weapons. She showed me her Crescent Rose, and I showed her my Shadow Meteor. Hers was made by an excellent craftsman." He answered with a bow of his head slightly to Ruby, who blushed a little. There was that feeling again. She couldn't describe it. Something was attracting her to Jet. What was it?

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Blake poke Weiss in the back as she was about to get Jet's attention again, and she wheeled round. Blake whispered something in Weiss' ear, and she nodded, but her expression of distrust did not change. She turned around, in time to catch Jet's joking response to Yang, "No, no, I'm not interested in that. I find such things absurd."

She tried to catch the joke, but it had already slipped by. Ruby checked her scroll, and realised that it was getting late. The sun was already setting, and as team RWBY said their goodbyes to Jet, they walked over to their dorm, still talking about Jet.

* * *

The girls got into their respective pyjamas and all clambered into their beds. But none of them could sleep, as Jet was still fresh on their minds, Ruby most of all.

"I don't trust him," Weiss was saying, "and if we let him keep us up all night, what state will that leave us in the next day? And the fact that we don't know much about him and that he doesn't give anything away, that's even worse."

"Weiss, maybe you should have a little faith." Yang replied.

"If you didn't immediately be aggressive towards him, we might have gotten him to open up a little more." Blake said.

As the three girls' discussion continued, Ruby herself was dropping off to sleep. The next day, she was going to talk to Jet, alone. He had been a lot more open with her, and there was that feeling. She shrugged off the thought, and finally fell asleep.

* * *

The rest of team RWBY's week went almost like a normal week. Ruby went to class, got homework, did homework, and studied. The only real change was that on the evenings, she would sneak out to see Jet, who was always in his usual spot on Sunset Hill. They talked about many things, the tournament being one of them.

Ruby learned that team LIJN was also participating, yet for some reason, and for the first time ever that she'd admit it to herself, she felt afraid to go up against Jet. He was casual with her, but she knew about his wings and the fact that he could use different weapons, and would pose a serious threat if her team came up against LIJN.

The feeling in her heart grew stronger with each visit, and finally, during the last school day of her week, Ruby could handle it no more. She couldn't concentrate, even during duelling practise. Her first port of call was Yang, and she found her laying on her bed, enjoying a free period. Ruby gently shook her awake, and was given a grunt and a snuffle before lilac eyes met hers.

"Y-yeah Sis? What's up?" Yang asked, shuddering as a yawn escaped her.

"I'm feeling different." Ruby admitted. Yang sat up from her bunk and got out, before sitting down with a concerned expression on her face, as Ruby sat down too.

"What's wrong?" she asked her little sister. Ruby fought with telling her, knowing this would only mean Yang teasing her about it, before finally breaking her barriers.

"It's Jet. Whenever I'm around him, my heart beats faster, and I can't concentrate. Is that… normal?" she finally confessed.

Yang looked at Ruby, her face flushed with colour, and her expression timid. Yang did the one thing that Ruby didn't expect. She broke out into a grin.

"Ruby, if what you're saying is true, you have a crush on him!" she exclaimed. Ruby was instantly taken aback.

"I… I…" she said, trying to marshal her thoughts and failing, her cheeks turning a similar colour to her namesake. Was it love? Did she really love Jet?

Ruby looked back at all the times she had been with Jet. She recalled all the times her heart had fluttered when she'd met those eyes, the strength in his gaze, even a couple of dreams she had had afterwards, depicting Jet and her in a more… immoral sense. He certainly seemed to enjoy his time with her. Maybe it was.

"So, Jet's your Romeo?" Yang teased, quickly bringing Ruby back to reality. She blushed even harder.

"Yang, this is serious. And who is Romeo anyway?" Ruby whispered.

"I'll explain later." came Yang's reply. Ruby sighed, she had had a feeling Yang would tease her.

"Just…can you find out if he feels the same way with me? I'm supposed to meet him in one of the parks later tonight." Ruby said, finally starting to cool down from the embarrassment.

"Sure I can." Yang said, cheerily, looking at the clock, which showed a time important to Yang as she started to get her books together. Maybe she had another class. "You and me, we go out together." Yang explained. "You lay low, and listen in on our talk. We'll find out what's on his mind, little sis."

"It's a date." Ruby said, smiling.


	4. Chapter 4 - Requiem at Dusk

Ruby was nervous. Finally, she was going to hear what her crush thought about her. She'd accepted it as she daydreamed through Oobleck's class, about her and Jet. Yang probably wouldn't have stopped teasing her if it weren't for the fact that they were in class, and though Weiss did have to poke her every now and again to bring her back into reality, she knew how she felt now.

After the last class of the week had ended, Yang had told Weiss and Blake that she and Ruby were going to do some shopping. Both seemed suspicious at first: Ruby had never been a shopping type of girl, and Ruby herself agreed with them there, but they accepted it, and the two sisters left for the aforementioned park, in search of Jet.

Rows and rows of benches sat in front of a large patch of grass, complete with a pond in the centre. Ruby zipped from hiding place to hiding place as Yang advanced, searching. Finally, they spotted Jet, sitting on a park bench further away from the teaching buildings. Ruby perched herself within the leaves of a tree as Yang called out to Jet.

"Hey! Jet!" Yang called, waving. Jet turned his head, a familiar warm smile on his normally cool face.

"Hey Yang." He called out in reply. Yang sat on the bench next to him, and he turned to face her. "What did you need?" he asked. Over time, Jet and Yang had become very good friends.

Back in the tree, Ruby heard a snap behind her, and turned to see another girl, crouched behind her. Her silver hair and eyes, along with the fact that she was a similar sort of height to Ruby could only mean one thing: this was Izzet.

Ruby jumped in understandable fright, and wobbled dangerously on her branch. Izzet reached out and caught her, pulling her back up, Ruby noting how soft her touch was. She was wearing jeans, with a grey jacket very similar to Jet's. She put her fingers to her lips, making a 'shh" noise, the pointed to Jet and Yang, who were engrossed in conversation. Ruby looked questioningly at her, and Izzet sighed.

"Don't react. I'm speaking to you telepathically." a soft voice in Ruby's head suddenly spoke out. "Think what you want to say to me." Izzet pointed to her temple as she said this.

'What are you doing here?' Ruby thought, watching Izzet.

"The same reason you're here." came the delicate voice.

'How are you doing this?' Ruby asked, feeling a little impressed at this ability.

"I'm mute you see, so I don't normally communicate." Izzet's voice reverberated in her head. "But when I need to, I use telepathy. I can tell something's up with Jet." she continued. "I just want to prove my theory."

'Something up with Jet?' Ruby thought, originally to herself, but Izzet seemed to hear this.

"Yes." Ruby turned to look at Jet and Yang. The two seemed to be amused. Yang was cracking up laughing, and Jet was attempting to control his own laughter. Ruby did not seem to have missed much, and she turned to face Izzet. The girl continued to watch the pair, a concerned expression on her face, similar to how Weiss looked sometimes when she was worried.

"He's been distracted in his classes. He can't keep up his normally stoic persona. Even during a practise fight in Vale, he was distracted, which nearly allowed me to take him by surprise." Izzet thought to her. Ruby was about to inquire further when Jet suddenly looked up, and his eyes focussed on the spot they were in!

Izzet quickly grabbed Ruby's hand, and the whole world suddenly turned grey. She kept a hold of Ruby's hand as she marvelled at what had just happened. Every single thing in the world had turned its own shade of grey.

"Don't break contact with me." Izzet said, using her telepathy.

'What happened?' Ruby immediately thought back. The world was completely silent. Everything was frozen.

Izzet and Ruby both jumped from the tree, and Izzet led her to another tree, closer to Yang and Jet, who were frozen. With a blast from her scythe, Ruby took them both, and they settled on a branch of the new, taller tree. Izzet was still grasping Ruby's hand, and as she attempted to pull away, Izzet tightened her grip.

"Stop." Izzet's voice reverberated through her mind, worried. "This is my semblance. I can manipulate time. I've stopped time right now, so that we could move and continue to listen. I will now resume it."

Ruby knew about Izzet's semblance, but it was still awe inspiring what this girl had just done.

As she continued to think, the colour began to flow back into the world. Once it had fully been restored, everything resumed, as if someone had hit a 'play' button on a paused movie. Jet was still looking at where Izzet and Ruby had been, and Yang had turned to look too. From this tree, Ruby could hear their voices a lot clearer, and Izzet remained silent, focussing on their conversation.

"What is it Jet?" Yang asked.

"Oh, nothing." Jet turned back to her. "Thought I saw something in the tree." Ruby relaxed, and Izzet gave a relieved sigh.

"Soooo, Jet." Yang said causally. "Is there anyone you like? Any girls, I mean." Jet looked surprised at the question, but maintained his composure.

"Hm, let's see." he said, teasingly. "I have one, though I'm not sure if she feels the same for me." Yang's eyes widened, as he continued. "I can't tell you her name, but I could always describe her."

"Go ahead." Yang said, leaning in, and from the tree, Ruby and Izzet did the same.

"She's pretty, quite small, with a very distinctive scent." Ruby's heart was beating rather fast.

"What of?" Yang asked.

"That would be telling." came Jet's cryptic response. "She wields a unique weapon, and her semblance isn't dust related."

Ruby was distracted by Izzet turning to look at her, but she quickly shrugged and turned back to watch.

"And," Jet said, in a decisive voice, "she's in this park." Ruby jumped in shock, and this was mirrored by Izzet.

"Hm, I wonder who that could be?" Yang asked to herself, looking around at the other people in the park.

Ruby turned to Izzet and tapped her. She turned to face her.

"I've heard all I need to hear." Ruby whispered. "Can you stop time and help me leave?"

Izzet smiled kindly, took Ruby's hand, and the lush green of the tree and the park once again became a monotone greyscale.

* * *

Once they were out of the park, Izzet and Ruby parted ways with Izzet giving a friendly wave. Smiling, Ruby returned it, before sitting on a bench in the street and waiting for Yang. All she had to do was hear Yang's opinion, and the matter would be decided. Although, Ruby thought she already knew what she was going to say.


	5. Chapter 5 - Midnight Rose

As Jet waved goodbye to Yang, his eyes travelled across the tree he had seen Ruby and Izzet in. He chuckled to himself in amusement. Really, if anything, he had expected Ruby to want to know his feelings about her, but Izzet? Jet had decided to stop lying to himself when Yang had quizzed him. He had fallen for Ruby.

However, he had also told the truth when he had told Yang that he wasn't sure if Ruby loved him back. She was young, after all. He'd pried the information out of Yang about her move of two years. Maybe she was still too young. Jet shook those thoughts out, as he walked towards a nearby bathroom. He had other pressing matters.

After locking himself in the cubicle of the gent's bathroom, he starting taking his jacket off, letting his wings unfurl. He removed his shirt, and peered at his chest. He was muscular, but wiry, with unrepressed strength in his arms. He didn't have any chest hair, but in the centre of his body, where his heart should be, was a machine, cylindrical, with a black crystal in the centre. It was the size of a large marble, and he checked the crystal.

There was no damage to it. Jet sighed, putting his shirt back on. He was distracted by a knocking on the door of the bathroom. After putting his clothes on and concealing his wings, he stepped outside. He immediately came face to face with Izzet. She smiled in greeting, then pointed to Jet's chest, a look of concern on her normally sweet and cute little face. "I'm fine." Jet said warmly.

"No, you're not." Izzet's voice came from within Jet's mind. The two sat down on a bench, and Izzet took Jet's hand in her own. Jet did not retract from her contact, Izzet had always been a touchy, feely kind of person, and Jet appreciated it as an endearing aspect of her personality. "You're changing because of these new emotions you're feeling, and that," she pointed to his chest, "is telling you that as well." she continued.

Jet finally turned and gazed into the girl's silver eyes, which were struggling to withhold tears. With a pang, Jet recalled the events of what had happened the last time they had felt such emotional strain. The crystal in his chest was the source of his repressed power, and the machine took the role of his heart. His team had learned of it during their second excursion into the Emerald Forest.

Jet had learned of his parents' deaths just beforehand, and he was halfway through fighting when he had heard an audible smashing sound, along with pain in his eyes. He had collapsed and blacked out, and the next thing he knew, he had awoken to the news that the extreme sadness had caused his heart to malfunction. The crystal had cracked severely, and he recalled with an unpleasant tug at his feelings that it was a case of literal heartbreak.

But this was different, he told himself, as she continued to gaze upon him in fear. 'It feels, different,' he thought, deciding to use the same form of communication that Izzet used. 'It's like the crystal feels fuller than it did before.'

"Well, whatever happens, just know that we're here for you." came Izzet's reply. Jet stood up, still holding Izzet's hand, and she quickly rose.

"I know." he said aloud. "I really appreciate it." Izzet smiled, and the pair started to make their way back to the dorms.

* * *

Ruby was overjoyed as she stepped into her dorm room with Yang, finding Weiss and Blake already asleep. Jet did have similar feelings to her! To think that her first crush had also fallen in love with her so quickly!

Yang yawned, and Ruby couldn't stifle her own tiredness. Yang mumbled "Night sis" before climbing into her own bunk, still fully clothed. Grinning inwardly at her sister's lack of decency in bedtime clothes, Ruby changed into her pyjamas, before hopping up into her own bunk, the ropes straining with the sudden force.

'An early night for an early wake-up for the second day of the weekend', she thought, but her mind kept her from getting to sleep for a good half an hour, still thinking about how she was going to eventually tell Jet about her feelings for him.

When Ruby next awoke, she checked her scroll. It was 6AM in the morning, but as she curled up intending to go back to sleep, she gazed sleepily out through the window. It was at the point that she saw daylight. Wondering if Jet was awake at this time, she gradually got dressed, careful not to wake her team, and left the dorm building quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone.

She walked to the training grounds, and was surprised to see Jet there, practising with Shadow Meteor. Ruby watched entranced, as Jet practised. The purple flames left a scathing trail where they had been previously.

He was fighting a training robot, one of the latest models by the look of it, which had a light on its head that was shining red, meaning it was at the height of its capabilities. It was no match for Jet, however, as with one final swing, he decapitated it, sending the head flying straight up into the air, while the body crumpled. Ruby felt that now was the time to make her presence known.

"Hey, Jet!" she called out tentatively. He looked up, and grinned at her presence, though this was rewarded by the severed head of the chrome robot coming back down and landing on his own head.

Dazed, he said sheepishly as Ruby approached "Apologies. Forgot to look up."Ruby giggled. "So what brings you out here?" Jet asked, still blushing a little from the embarrassment. Ruby knew the real reason she'd wanted to find Jet, but kept it hidden.

"I just came out to train." Ruby said. This WAS true, at least, she did do an early morning session during the weekend.

"In that case, why not spar with me?" Jet suggested. "The training bots here aren't really doing it for me." At his suggestion, Ruby noticed that Jet suddenly had his arm behind his back. It had been there for a while, but she was curious as to how her crush fought. Unfolding Crescent Rose, she quickly dropped into a combat stance.

"Sure." She said, a smile crossing her face. Jet smiled, and adopted his own stance. Before Ruby had a chance to even move, however, a black mist started to envelop Jet, covering him utterly in a dark cloud her eyesight could not penetrate.

As suddenly as it had appeared, it began to disperse, revealing Jet, still in his combat stance, but he was not wielding Shadow Meteor. Ruby's eyes widened as she gazed upon the familiar scythe clasped in his hands. 'He was wielding Crescent Rose! But how?' Ruby thought to herself.

It was a duplicate of Crescent Rose, but all the red details had become black, and the metal had a purplish tinge to it. The metal blade had also been replaced with a purple laser-like blade, glowing darkly. Spinning the scythe and causing black rose petals to scatter as he did so, Jet anchored the shimmering blade into the ground.

"Ruby, meet Midnight Rose." Jet proclaimed, grinning devilishly.

* * *

Blake opened her eyes. It was another day. She pushed herself up, looking at the clock on the wall of the dorm. It read 7:30. Knowing that Ruby was probably doing her secret training, she glanced at the other two bunks, Weiss sleeping peacefully, with Yang's soft snores giving Blake all the information she needed to know.

As she got dressed, Blake's mind drifted over to all the new people she had met while being in team RWBY. Many of them she probably would have never met if she hadn't been here. Sighing, Blake adjusted her bow that often sat atop her head, and decided to go out and find Ruby. It hadn't been the first time she'd watched Ruby train.

Reaching the training grounds, Blake wasn't surprised to see Ruby. She was surprised to see her backed up against a wall, however, with her shadowy opponent countering any attempt to escape. Blake frowned, before she recognised Jet, and even more when she saw his weapon. It looked like Crescent Rose, but had more of an 'evil' feel to it. Blake leaned against a wall, and decided to watch.

Ruby was tiring, and Jet knew it. He was a terrifying opponent, matching her in speed and agility but he fought with a skill that reminded her of her uncle, but Jet was a little more defensive. Even so, his brutal attacks quickly drained her energy when she blocked them. 'I really should have loaded up on cookies before facing him.' Ruby thought.

Desperately, Ruby continued to try to parry every single swipe of Midnight Rose with Crescent Rose, but Jet was too quick, getting in the odd hit here and there. Little nicks from it were starting to get sore, but Ruby knew that she had to get away from this lock, or Jet would easily overpower her. Before she could do anything, however, Jet managed to penetrate her defences and slash her across the chest! Ruby's aura had saved her, but Jet had just dealt a major blow to her aura levels.

The moment Ruby's shocked cry sounded out, Jet capitalised on her distraction, swinging Midnight Rose by gripping the haft very close to the blade. The blunt end of the haft smashed into Ruby, knocking her backwards, and the laser blade hooked Crescent Rose before pulling it away from her, leaving Ruby on the ground, defenceless. Jet immediately folded up Midnight Rose, before running towards Ruby.

Gritting her teeth in pain, Ruby only said "Too… strong" before Jet picked her up in his arms and retrieved Crescent Rose. Blake was worried. What had he done? She was already running towards Jet, to find out what was wrong.

Before she could reach him, Jet lifted up his jacket and unfurled black wings, similar to that of a Nevermore, and immediately took off, headed for Sunset Hill. Blake growled in a combination of fear and anger, before turning around and heading for the exit of the training facility.

* * *

At Sunset Hill, Jet put Ruby down and checked her wounds. Ruby felt searing pain from Midnight Rose's touch, freezing cold, coupled with searing pain. She looked at Jet, whose face was pained with worry.

"I-i-it h-h-h-urts" Ruby stuttered, still groaning in pain and shivering from the unnatural chill. Jet said nothing, but held his palm up to the sky, which suddenly shone a scattering of red and blue lights. Ruby heard rapid footsteps near her head as Jet lowered his hand.

Jet stood back from Ruby, and Ruby looked down at her body. There was an orange aura surrounding her, and without warning, she felt the agony of each of her injuries as fresh as if Jet had dealt them again. She screamed in pain, but it suddenly stopped, and as she looked again, they had all been healed.

No, more than that, it had felt as if she hadn't even suffered them. What was going on?


	6. Chapter 6 - From Darkness with love

Jet picked Ruby off the ground, and both turned to face the stranger, which was Izzet, a look of worry on her face.

"Thank you Izzet." Jet said. "That makes another deed in the long list of deeds that I am eternally grateful for." Izzet smiled, before making an enquiring face. Jet smiled, and nodded. Izzet blushed, something Ruby did not think she was capable of doing, before vanishing. Ruby smiled weakly. 'She must disappear when she stops time.' she thought, before turning to the matter at hand, the fact that she was in Jet's arms.

"Um, I can walk you know." she said, somewhat sarcastically to Jet. A small laugh escaped Jet as he put her down. She turned, with hands on hips, trying to sound as business-like as possible, even though Jet regarded her with his neutral smile.

"How did you do that?" Ruby asked. He had beaten her easily! Her speed did nothing to trick him, and Midnight Rose was something else. She shuddered.

"Let's just say you're not the only one with a few tricks, my little Rose." he said, grinning. Ruby blushed with the sentiment, she'd never been called that before. Jet was still very close to her, and it felt like they were the same height, though in reality Jet was slightly taller than her.

Immediately, without warning, all the emotions she had felt during the previous encounters with Jet, both in real life in her dreams, came flooding through her mind. Curiosity, suspicion, longing, fear and love all jockeyed for position in Ruby's mind. Almost being overwhelmed by this sudden onset of emotion, Ruby did the only thing she thought was right. She kissed Jet. Full on the lips.

Blushes appeared on both of their faces, and Jet hissed in surprise, but didn't not pull away, instead pulling her closer with an arm. Both had closed their eyes. Jet's lips were soft but firm, almost as if they were concealing an inner strength. Ruby revelled in a feeling of harsh triumph coupled with overwhelming embarrassment.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, before they finally broke apart. Ruby felt an unnatural warmth flowing through her body. No. This was natural. She relished in doing what she'd wanted to do for some time, and nearly missed Jet muttering to himself. She opened her eyes.

"I think… you're proven my suspicions." Jet said, opening his eyes, and emerald met silver.

"What suspicions?" Ruby asked, barely a whisper, the pair still blushing.

"We had the same feelings for each other." he simply stated, before Ruby locked him in another, passionate, kiss, which he did not refuse, rather he drew her closer towards him so that they were in a tight embrace.

* * *

From afar, Blake watched the pair, having witnessed everything. She had seen Izzet's reversal of time on Ruby's wounds, making it so that they had never occurred. She had to hand it to the silent girl; there were times when that ability would have come in handy. Covering her presence with her favourite novel, Ninjas of Love, this was one of the few times that she could not focus on her book, instead being entranced by what she was seeing.

Of all the girls on her team, it had been Ruby Rose who had found love first. Sure, Weiss and Neptune seemed to be nearing the dating stage, but that couldn't match the spectacle she was witnessing. It was both terrifying and heart-warming, and as the two broke apart, she made a mental promise to herself and the two lovers that she wouldn't mention it to another soul. They would tell when their time was due, Blake thought, smiling as she disappeared from the scene.

* * *

"H-He WHAT?!" Weiss yelled, just as Ruby had finished telling her story. A look of fury had crossed her face, even as Yang waved her hand in the universal 'calm down' gesture. This only seemed to infuriate Weiss even further, and Ruby sighed as she understood why. Weiss had never fully trusted Jet.

It had been several days since their first kiss, and Ruby had only just finished telling them what had happened. She'd known Weiss would react badly, but the look of fury in her eyes made her worry for LIJN's safety. Weiss stormed out, intent on confronting Jet, despite it being close to 10 PM, and left an awful silence in her wake.

Ruby was being comforted by Yang as she was crying into her sister's shoulder. Blake, as always, was on her bunk, but she could not help but empathize with Ruby. Weiss could be as painful as a loaded cannon, and just as loud on occasion. She resolved to remain here and comfort Ruby, while sending a silent prayer to Jet to watch his back.

* * *

Jet himself was out shopping with Lilac at the time, as another of the numerous clothes shops. While he himself never really enjoyed the sport of trying several thousand different outfits on, and would readily admit to himself that he'd rather not have done, he had resolved to humour her, especially as Lilac could be a cute character in her own way, even though she towered over him, being a full head taller.

Being able to change her hair's length and colour really suited her, he thought, but her hair was also one of her many weapons. He recalled a particularly vicious burn from when she had turned it to red hot wire and elongated it like a whip, before slashing him with it during a training session.

Jet snapped out of his reverie, however, when the familiar trill of "How do I look?" came from the doorway to the changing rooms. He moved smartly to the doorway, to see Lilac in and emerald green skirt and matching dress, akin to his own eyes. It sparkled, like the jewel of its namesake. For all her own quirks, Lilac never failed to make herself look beautiful, but Jet had the nagging suspicion that she was trying to emulate his eyes. She DID seem fascinated with them, and he himself admitted to being proud of them.

"One of your finest selections yet, Lilac." Jet replied, as Lilac tittered. She always enjoyed his formal tone of voice, and Jet was not one to displease. "We do need to go though, it's getting late." he called as Lilac emerged in her usual deep violet combat skirt with matching tank top, displaying her tanned skin on her arms.

"Let's go then." Lilac said, promptly dragging Jet out of the shop after making her single purchase. Before Jet could reply, a shout of "HEY!" made them both turn. Weiss stood there, looking mad beyond what Jet had usually seen her. Instantly expecting the worst, Jet turned to Lilac.

"Summon LIJN." he commanded, his tone matching his position as leader, stern but controlled. Lilac immediately disappeared into a back alley as Jet called "Weiss! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You know exactly what!" Weiss said, eyes boring into Jet's as she maintained her stride towards him. Jet couldn't deny his own nervousness, but stood his ground, Midnight Rose behind his back. The weapon that reminded him of Ruby. Cure, elegant, and deadly.

Jabbing a finger into his chest, Weiss looked and felt like the cold, hard edge of a sword, filled with fury, glinting dangerously in the half-light of the street. "What are you playing at, corrupting our leader like you just did?!"

Jet was taken aback. Corrupting? He met Weiss' gaze, and spoke with evident anger behind each word.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if you want a duel in the shadows with me, I'd be happy to oblige."

"I'd like nothing less from the man who's running our leader!" Weiss shouted, drawing Myrtenaster.


	7. Chapter 7 - Legion of Blades

Jet immediately shot backwards, darkness covering him in a shroud. Weiss immediately flew into it, thrusting with her rapier, but met a solid wall, followed by a brutal kick to her shoulder, which was blocked by Weiss' aura, but the impact sent her slamming into a nearby shop window, which cracked.

Furious, she looked up as the darkness dissipated, unveiling Jet, smiling slightly as he unfurled Midnight Rose, the laser blade shimmering in the darkness. Weiss' eyes widened, she had never seen this weapon before, and immediately noted its similarity to Crescent Rose. She got up, and regarded this new development.

"Like it, Miss Schnee?" Jet asked quietly. He twirled the scythe, before embedding it into the ground, the purple light and low lighting elsewhere genuinely intimidating Weiss. Perhaps she would have realised her folly at attacking an opponent she knew nothing about. But now, Weiss was incensed.

Jet was the reason Ruby had an even harder time concentrating. Her grades were dropping, which meant Weiss often had to help her. She'd also been distracted during combat, which had led Ruby to be hurt during practises, due to careless mistakes. And now she finally had the root of the problem, and was going to take care of it.

Where Ruby's scythe was part sniper rifle, Jet instead had it as part rail gun. He demonstrated this by firing directly at her, Weiss using a glyph to escape the blast. She used another glyph to close the distance, but Jet seemed one step ahead of her, zipping away from her. She whirled around, and parried another swing, before stabbing at Jet's ribcage, but the move that normally worked on Ruby was blocked by him, before he swung with a right hook that connected with the side of her head and dazed her. Before she could react, Jet grabbed her hand!

Almost immediately, purple light flared at his touch, and Weiss immediately felt her energy being drained. Weiss used a force glyph to get out of his grip and blast the two in opposite directions. As Weiss rose to meet him again, she looked at Jet, who was holding his hand out in front of his face, which was still glowing purple.

"Interesting." he muttered, before turning to face Weiss and projecting a purple glyph and using it to fly towards Weiss! She leaped back, shocked as Jet pressed his attack. He had copied her glyphs!

Jet flew at her using the copied glyphs again, but Weiss turned and used his momentum against him, similarly to how she had once done to Ruby, using her own glyphs to redirect him through a shop's window.

Dizzy, he tried to stand, but Weiss pinned him to the ground. He growled as his eyes flashed black, similarly to how Yang's did, but his expression changed, becoming almost primal for a split second before they resumed his normal shining emerald colour. Weiss looked upon him with scorn in her victory, still mercilessly keeping him down.

"You are one of the worst scum I've had the displeasure to meet. You leech off our leader's potential, making her act like an even bigger dolt. What do you have to say for yourself?" Weiss scorned, her anger overflowing even by her standards. Jet's eyes flashed black again, and he glanced to the side before a punch to his chest from Weiss brought his gaze back upon her.

"If you value any resemblance of yourself, you will let me go." he hissed. Weiss gave him a sarcastic laugh. Who was he to make demands?

"You can't do anything. You're stuck, and I'm going to personally ensure you never bother our leader again. How can you possibly stop me?" she asked.

"I… can't." Jet coughed out, the blow to his chest starting to get the better of him. "But we are… Legion."

Something slammed into her side, and Weiss was barrelled over by the new arrival, who had shrouded herself with electricity before tackling Weiss, knocking the wind out of her even as she was burned by the electric power behind it. She rolled straight into a brick wall, before standing up.

Lilac now stood between her and Jet, who was now rising, his wounds being healed by Izzet, who was performing her time-reversal on him. Nouvelle leaped from a building and joined her, before the entirety of Team LIJN stood before her, and her rage was temporarily quelled at the knowledge that it was a four on one fight.

All three of the girls looked furious, and Nouvelle raised her hand, fire dancing in her palm as Weiss readied herself to defend. If she was going down, she was going down with a fight. Jet, however, raised his scythe and held it to block her. Nouvelle, with a look of understanding, lowered her hand, extinguishing the fireball she'd been about to conjure.

"Weiss." Jet said, taking a step forward. "Whatever the cause of your anger, you cannot beat all four of us. I give you two options, either leave us, in which case we will not pursue you, or attack us. I warn you, we will not show any mercy if you do. I leave the choice to you."

Weiss fumed as Jet turned to his team, who were regarding him with surprise.

"Come." he simply said, and the three followed him as he walked through an alley, and out of sight.

Weiss seriously wanted to chase Jet down, but knew that she didn't stand a chance. Deciding to let them be, she turned, sheathed Myrtenaster, and made the long walk back to Beacon.

* * *

As she approached the dorm room, she had hoped to avoid speaking to her team, as she was still furious. She had been close to beating Jet down and giving him a taste of her mind! But then his teammates had shown up, and they'd ruined her chances at victory over Jet. His words still echoed in the back of her mind.

"_We are… Legion."_

LIJN. Legion. Weiss understood now. Like RWBY, LIJN was a formidable team because of the bonds between their team members. Most of them also had semblances that could be used to support each other. Izzet with her time warping abilities, and Jet's darkness.

As Weiss continued to stand outside the door, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shower of rose petals. Turning, she found Ruby behind her. She looked worried.

"W-weiss? Are you ok?" Ruby asked. Weiss still looked angry, and made a short huffing noise. It was late in the night, and she just wanted to get to her bunk. Ruby had other plans, however, as she blocked the door. Weiss flashed her eyes warningly, but Ruby simply sat down on the floor. She'd grown a little more knowledgeable of socialising and reading people since she first started her relationship with Jet.

"Did you find Jet?" Ruby kept a steady voice. Weiss, resolving herself to this conversation, sat down as well.

"I did." she replied.

"What happened?" Ruby asked, still in her even tone. Weiss sighed, then relayed the events of her encounter with Jet. Ruby's eyes widened as she heard how Jet had drawn Midnight Rose, and how he now had the ability to use Weiss' glyphs.

Weiss ended off with how LIJN had arrived shortly afterwards, and how she was forced to leave or face an entire team's wrath. Ruby had to agree with her, it was a scaredy-cat move on Jet's part, but a smart one. 'Jet must not have wanted to fight Weiss in the first place, and hoped to scare her.' she reasoned.

"Jet didn't want to fight you." she said to Weiss. At this, Weiss actually laughed quietly. "He didn't!" Ruby piped up. "He just wanted to stop you and him from getting hurt over your anger!" Weiss looked at Ruby with a combination of anger and exasperation.

"Ruby, if you're implying that I brought this on myself-" Weiss sternly spoke, but Ruby swiftly interrupted her. "You did!" Ruby shouted, and Weiss felt anger behind her silver eyes. "You AND Jet! You constantly scorn him, like me! Tonight you attacked him! You fought, and ended up hurting each other, even when Jet only wanted to be friends with you!"

"Ruby, that man is not helping you!" Weiss shouted. "He's causing distractions, which are causing your grades to drop! And how do you know he wants to be friends with me?"

"He told me himself." Ruby hissed. "He didn't know what your problem was, but he still wanted to be friends with you, because I told him you were a GOOD person at heart. Think about that, Weiss." Without another word, Ruby got up, and stormed away. Weiss couldn't say or do anything, just watch her go.


	8. Chapter 8 - A Rose in Shadow

Ruby arrived at Team LIJN's dorm room, stationed at one of the newer buildings. She was about to knock when she realised that it was midnight, and they'd all be asleep. She was contradicted by the door suddenly opening. Izzet stood in the doorway dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt and trousers. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she relaxed when she recognised Ruby.

"Izzet, I'm sorry, I-" Ruby started to stammer, but Izzet held up a surprisingly warm hand to her mouth, before pointing to her head. Ruby heard the familiar voice in her head.

"Come inside."

Ruby complied, as Izzet slowly shut the door. LIJN's dorm room had a similar design to her own dorm room, but each bed was… floating?! Ruby looked upon them astounded, they really were afloat, their occupants sleeping soundly.

"Magnetism." Izzet commented in Ruby's mind. Izzet's bed lowered in response to her presence, and she beckoned to Ruby, sitting cross legged on her bed. Ruby joined her, and the bed started to float gently upwards. It was the weirdest feeling for Ruby, but the bed remained solid, despite being in the air.

"Now then." Izzet's telepathy sounded once again as she gazed into Ruby's eyes, which were on the verge of tears. "What is the matter?"

Ruby, struggling to control her tears simply thought 'The fight that Weiss had with Jet.'

"Ah, that." Izzet's voice was neither harsh nor comforting. "I already spoke to Jet, and I can always wake him." Ruby shook her head immediately, but Izzet simply turned to Jet, saying "Trust me, he'd want to talk to you about it."

Jet stirred, and then opened his eyes. He was wearing a set of black pyjamas, and his eyes shone in the half-light of the room. After glancing at Lilac and Nouvelle, still asleep, and noticing Izzet and Ruby, he smiled, then focussed on Izzet. She nodded, then turned to Ruby.

"I will relay his thoughts to you." she said, and Ruby nodded in appreciation.

'Why did you fight her?' Ruby immediately thought.

"Because I snapped." Jet immediately replied. "She'd constantly berated me of even the smallest of influences on you, and never trusted me, whereas I would have welcomed her with open arms. When she came for me about our first kiss, I was originally going to be friendly, but as soon as she started threatening me, I'd had it with her. I wanted to send a message, that I'd had enough of her constant snide comments and belittlement, but I wanted to do it quickly, hence why I summoned my teammates."

"I truly regret what I did, but at the time I was angry." he continued, and Ruby noticed Izzet moving their beds closer together, allowing her to jump to the other. With a smile of thanks, Ruby flopped onto Jet's bed, still gazing at him, this time with a look that she was sure was melting his heart.

She thought to him 'Can you promise to try and get along with her?' She waited several moments before Jet responded, hugging her, as he thought "Yes. I can try again, for you Ruby."

At this point, Ruby was unsure if she wanted to go back to her own dorm room, given that she'd left Weiss in anger. As if reading her mind, Jet's final thought entered her mind.

"You can always sleep here, if you want."

Ruby nodded, getting under the unusually comfy duvet, and feeling Jet wrap his arms around her. Feeling warmth start to flow into her body from Jet, Ruby quickly dozed off.

* * *

Ruby awoke to find herself in Team LIJN's dorm room. Her involuntary movements during her waking up had also awoken Jet. The pair smiled as Jet whispered in her ear "How did you sleep?"

"Like a bug in a rug." Ruby replied sleepily. Sudden thoughts of last night's discussion reached her, and she realised that she would have to speak to her team eventually.

"What are we going to do with you and Weiss?" she asked him as the pair jumped off the bed, Jet using a dark glyph to slow their decent. Weiss was probably angry at Jet, and Ruby now bore part of that anger now. Tears threatened to flow from the corners of her eyes as she realised that she may have instigated the collapse of their team. Jet reached out with a warm hand and wiped the now falling tears from Ruby's face.

"There's nothing to worry about." Jet said, softly. "I sent Lilac with a message telling Weiss to meet with us at Sunset Hill. We can apologise, and just let the matter drop." Ruby didn't think Jet knew Weiss well, and knew how prickly the heiress could be when she wasn't angry with them.

"I don't think it'll work like that. Weiss is too proud, too stubborn." Ruby whispered.

"Ruby, if Weiss has a problem with me and you, she can go and…" he caught himself, but then continued, "but I'm trying to get her to see that I want to be friends with her. I just wish she wouldn't see only a delinquent in me."

"A deli-what?" Ruby asked.

"A bad person." Jet explained.

* * *

Back at RWBY's dorm room, Yang was pacing. She'd been doing this for a while. Blake was silent, and so was Weiss. She'd lost the will to argue with either of them, and after Ruby had not returned last night, this had only further cemented Yang's worry. Twice, she'd nearly beaten a hole in the wall after beating up her punch bag and missing, smashing her fist into the wall. Before Weiss could even come close to telling her to quit it after the blonde missed for a third time, there was a knock on the window.

Turning, Weiss recognised Lilac hanging from the tree upside down, using her whips as a tail. Blake sighed and opened the window, allowing the blonde to pirouette into the room. As she retracted her whip, Weiss, Blake and Yang, whom had stopped her relentless pacing, spoke in unison with varying tones of voice. "What do you want?"

"Ouch, dispense with the chill pills." Lilac said cheerily, taking a small bow in respect to the three. "I'm here for Weiss."

"If you're here because of what happened last night, then you'll have to face Yang and I before you take Weiss." Blake growled, stepping between Lilac and Weiss, Yang joining her, eyes red and fists clenched.

Lilac gave an annoying giggle that instantly made Weiss wish Blake and Yang just silenced her already. It was not to be, however.

"Oh, I am here about the fight last night. But no need to worry. I come with a message only. Y'see, Jet and Ruby both want to make up. But, they are not going to abandon their love, and it would be foolish to try to break them apart. So, if you're prepared to back off, meet them both at 3:00 at Sunset Hill today."

"And if I don't?" Weiss challenged, standing up and pushing past a surprised Blake and Yang.

"Between you and me." Lilac whispered theatrically. "You only met one half of Jet. If I were you, I wouldn't get him angry enough that he shows his other side. Brutality, insanity and death await if that… thing ever emerges. But, that's for you to discover, if you dare. Ciao!"

Lilac followed up by elegantly jumping backwards through the window and vanishing from sight. Before Weiss or Blake could say a word, Yang stepped forward, seething.

"You and Jet WILL sort this out." she stated.

Weiss didn't argue with her, if only for the fact that Yang would likely break something at this point.


	9. Chapter 9 - Acquiescence

Ruby was nervous. She would be confronting Weiss for the first time since she'd run away. Ruby missed having the three of her team around, but she was not prepared to let this drop without hearing Weiss apologise. Jet was a good person, and Weiss needed to see that.

She sat atop the hill with Jet and Lilac, and she was aware that Izzet was somewhere nearby. Jet was not taking chances. If her three teammates attacked him, he would be ready, and knowing how he had demolished her in single combat filled Ruby with dread at the thought of him facing Weiss again, without restraint.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Lilac, who had playfully poked her. Turning from Jet, she faced the cheeky girl in purple, who merely said "Say ahhh." while holding something behind her back. Ruby gave her a questioning glance, before slowly opening her mouth. Lilac grinned, before tossing a mini cookie into Ruby's open mouth, who chomped in surprise with wide eyes before her taste buds registered what had fallen into her mouth.

Feeling the sweet sugary goodness fall down her throat, she felt a little more cheerful, and even more so when Lilac held up another mini cookie. She tossed it, Ruby immediately catching it in her mouth, and wolfing it down greedily. Lilac then gave her a challenging stare before throwing two straight up in the air. As they plummeted back down, Ruby activated her semblance and gobbled the first one down, but a black blur snatched the second one before it fell into her mouth. She turned around to see Jet chuckling, before he threw the treat he had snatched to her, and she caught it.

"I swear, it's like we're playing with a cute little puppy." Jet remarked, catching a cookie that Ruby had jumped for but missed by inches, landing on her back in the process. She spun around and dived on Jet, trying to snatch it out of his fingers, partly crazed due to both a desire for Jet and another for the cookie he was holding.

"Aww, it's like you really care for her!" Lilac cooed just before Jet used a dark glyph to fling Ruby off him, giving a surprised 'ee!' at the sudden force, before using another to fix her hands and feet to the floor. She gave Jet her best puppy eyes, as she reeaaallly wanted that cookie he still had. As if reading Jet's mind, Lilac rose and stood next to Jet.

"Say ahhh." Lilac repeated, while Jet dangled the cookie near her lips.

Trusting them this time, Ruby opened her mouth opened her mouth, and Jet rewarded her by gently putting the cookie in her mouth before dispelling the dark glyph that held her. Ruby fell down and giggled with Lilac as Jet knelt down next to her, and pulled her into a hug. Ruby responded merely by hugging Jet in return, but they were parted suddenly by Lilac.

"They're here." she said, her voice lacking the playfulness from before, and Ruby saw Izzet appear briefly before taking Lilac's hand and vanishing with her. Jet and Ruby stood up as they gazed down upon Weiss, Blake and Yang, all three of whom were marching stiffly up towards them. Both Blake and Weiss kept their eyes fixed on Jet, but Yang and Ruby only had eyes for each-other.

"Keep the re-unions until after we get things sorted out. You're on my side, right?" Jet muttered to her.

"Of course, sweetheart." Ruby replied, feeling the reassuring weight of Crescent Rose on her back.

It wasn't long before the three remaining members of Team RWBY were upon them. Jet broke the silence.

"Weiss, Blake and Yang. Are we here to talk peacefully, or are you here to once again try to harm me?" he asked, aiming this last question at Weiss.

"That depends on whether or not I get to talk to my sister." Yang growled, threateningly. Weiss and Blake remained silent.

"I think after we apologise to one another. And please, don't use force, Yang." he said, exasperated. "You're actually outnumbered."

"Been outnumbered plenty of times before." Yang said, getting closer, her eyes a bright red.

"Take three steps closer to us with that stance and attitude," Jet hissed angrily, "and we do things your way."

Ruby was scared. She didn't know what she'd do if Yang attacked. Yang was brutal when she was this peeved, but Jet was also very skilled in combat, and nothing good would come out of them clashing.

Yang took a step. She took another, red eyes boring into emerald eyes. Before she could take the third, Blake grabbed her from behind and pulled her down, a yowl emitting from Yang.

"Let me GO BLAKE!" Yang yelled, but Blake quickly looked up at Jet.

"Do you have any way to paralyze her without hurting her? Weiss and I'll agree to your terms. Quick!" Blake implored Jet. Jet quickly raised his hand, and Ruby saw the lights and knew that meant one thing.

"Izzet, time freeze!" Jet commanded, pointing at Yang. At his command, Izzet appeared behind her, and laid a gentle hand on the thrashing brawler. Yang froze, as if encased in ice, and did not move a muscle as Blake released her, panting from the effort of holding her teammate down.

"T-thank you." Blake said, both to Izzet and Jet. Izzet nodded as Jet and Ruby both sat down at the summit of the hill, gesturing for Weiss and Blake to do the same, which they did.

"Izzet will keep Yang frozen until I ask her to unfreeze her." Jet said to the two. "Now then. First of all, I must apologise. Firstly to you, Weiss, for fighting you when there was no reason to and giving in to my anger, and then to you, Blake, for causing such havoc with your team when Ruby and I discovered our feelings for each-other." As he finished, Ruby felt that now was the time to apologise herself.

"I'm sorry too." she said quietly, attracting the gazes of all present. "I never, ever wanted to cause something like this. I was just… really in love with Jet, and still am, but Weiss," she locked eyes with her, "you attacked Jet first, and afterwards, when you were still angry with him only because he kissed me for the first time, you got me angry because I still don't get why you're angry with him, and all you seem to do is want to hurt my… boyfriend." she finished, blushing at that last statement.

Weiss had an unreadable expression on her face, and so did Blake.

"When you approached me back then, Weiss." Jet explained, "I still was prepared to be friendly with you, despite being looked down upon. When you got very close and jabbed me in the chest, however, I'd had enough. So I did the one thing I do when I get angry: I retaliate, and summon my team if I'm alone. I also now have your semblance, because of that."

"I will not deny that I was not in one of my… better states of mind." Weiss replied, now focussed on Jet. "But you must see what caused my outburst. Ruby's grades are dropping because of you. She's obsessed with you. Don't lie," she suddenly raised her voice to cut off Ruby's outburst, "you are. I just want the best for my partner, and you put that at risk."

"Well, I doubt that Jet would be willing to leave Ruby completely alone." Blake commented from behind Weiss.

"You can't take Jet away!" Ruby cried vehemently, even as she saw Weiss glaring at her.

"How about a compromise?" Jet suggested. "Firstly, I'll help Ruby with her studies, and trust me," he turned to Ruby "I'm not easily distracted. Secondly, I'll make the promise here and now that I won't do anything else with Ruby until she's cleared all her homework."

"Don't let her copy you." Blake said as Ruby gave Jet a puppy eye stare, but she knew that it wouldn't work against someone like Jet. She'd already guessed that the guy had a will of iron.

"I won't. What do you think, Weiss?" Jet asked.

There was a moment of silence as Weiss considered him. She kept up her frostiness as she addressed him.

"If you can keep that promise, that would be… acceptable." Weiss finally said, and both Jet and Blake cracked smiles.

"Perfect." Jet said. "Now we just have one more thing to deal with." He gestured towards Yang, who was still kept in a time lock by Izzet, who was watching over her captive with constant vigilance. Ruby had nearly forgotten about her sister. "Ruby, you're the only one who can calm her down."

Ruby nodded, and moved in front of her sister nervously. Yang was still on her knees, having been fighting Blake's hold before being sealed. At Izzet's nod, Yang unfroze and immediately fell over, no longer having Blake's grip on her arms. She got up, about to charge forward, before her eyes fell on Ruby. Her eyes immediately went from red to violet as she immediately hugged Ruby, crushing her.

"Don't ever do that to me again! Ruby I was so worried!" Yang cried, as Ruby felt the overwhelming pressure of her bear hug.

"Yang, it's alright. We're all friends again. Izzet time-froze you." she squeaked, as she pleaded with Jet using her eyes to get Yang off her. He obliged, pulling Yang off, and hugging her, causing the blonde to gasp in surprise.

"I'm so sorry Yang." Jet whispered, as she turned in his arms to face him. "I was the cause of this."

Ruby could almost hear the gears working in Yang's brain as she tried to make sense of this. Then, Yang embraced him in return.

"I don't know what you did, but thank you for sorting it out, Jet."


	10. Chapter 10 - Rising Void

"I think there quite a few teams still remaining." Jet said to Ruby as he stoked her hair lightly. Ruby, who was standing close to him, nuzzled into his chest, saying as she did so, her voice muffled "Soon I'll need to return my dead tree branch to the earth."

Yang, who had just arrived, couldn't help but give a soft 'Awww.' at the couple. They remained that way, until Jet finally replied with "I don't think I've been preening my little rose enough in that case, she's grown thorns."

It was two days after Jet had made up with Weiss and Yang, and the tournament had begun. Team RWBY had faced off against two teams so far, and Ruby thought they had wrecked the two opponents. LIJN had also dominated, and now only four teams stood; RWBY, JNPR, CDNL and LIJN. Lessons were suspended for the four teams, meaning that Jet and Ruby were able to spend more free time together outside of training.

Ruby immediately broke apart, both her and Jet now grinning. "Think you can take me and Crescent Rose?" she asked, her competitive voice now in action.

"You will never beat me and Midnight Rose." Jet replied, boisterous but with a dark undertone. It was his own, playful tone, something he called his "Dark Lord" act. "You've yet to see what else she can do." he said, even darker than before.

Before Ruby or Yang, who had walked up to the pair, could speak in return, the tournament board they were standing next to had changed. As they watched the board, Izzet appeared beside Jet, startling Ruby and Yang, but Jet did not react. The board now read the semi-final rounds. CDNL against JNPR. RWBY against LIJN.

"Looks like I'll get to show you, Ruby." Jet said, as he took Izzet's offered hand and disappeared. Yang looked worried, but Ruby gave her a confident smile, to which she returned.

"Let's do this."

* * *

Jet stood alone as the other three members of his team donned their armour for battle against Team RWBY. He would be lying to himself if he said that he was not afraid. Ruby was a tough opponent to pin down.

'_Heh. You didn't make it seem difficult._' A gravely, almost bestial parody of Jet's own voice spoke from inside his head. Jet knew who this was, and its coming only heralded disaster.

"What do you want, voice?" Jet thought to it.

"_Really, we must find a better name for me than simply 'the voice'. I was thinking Flux, since you are the embodiment of order within your mind and, while similar to you, I am also your opposite."_

"Very well, Flux. My question still stands, however." Jet responded.

"_I'm getting hungry. It is almost too long since I last feasted."_ Flux replied menacingly.

"Your hunger for aura energy ends in death. I will not let you seize control of me again." Jet hissed aloud, remembering what had happened the last time Flux had won control of his body.

_"Ever since you came to Beacon, fighting the Grimm and performing your team's signature move has sustained me. But it has not satisfied me. I need aura energy, for it is my life's blood. Death releases more of it." _Flux growled, revealing a feminine tone to its voice.

"Suppose I was to let you die? What then?" Jet challenged, but he heard Flux laughing. The sound echoed in Jet's mind.

"_I am you. You are me. If one of us dies, the other follows. I don't want to die, but I also don't want you to die, my love."_ Flux whispered, losing some of the bestiality of her voice.

"If you care for me, then why can't you see that your killings bring me great sorrow?" Jet asked.

"_I do, and it pains me, but we cannot co-exist while you still refuse to give me a boost every once in a while, or lend me control of our body. I've not given you any reason to not trust me while I'm not starving." _Flux said.

"Then how about this? I will learn to trust you after you've proven yourself worth my trust. I will give you a chance." Jet replied, softly.

"_That is all I ask for, my love."_ was her only reply.

* * *

After briefing Blake and Yang on their opponents, they entered the arena. Already waiting for them, LIJN stood on the starting platforms. It was a team on team match, with the winning team having one member still standing.

Lilac stood cheerily on hers, beaming, waving to the cheering crowd. Izzet stood solemnly, hands behind her back. Nouvelle was waving to the crowd as well, a self-assured smile on her face. Jet stood on the leader's platform, and as Ruby caught his eyes, he focussed on her, and grinned, a challenging look on his face. His wings were out, feathers fluttering in the low breeze.

Team RWBY took their positions, Weiss focussing on Nouvelle, Yang in front of Izzet, and Blake set to take on Lilac. LIJN pulled out their weapons, Lilac brandishing her men of war, Izzet with her two blades, and Nouvelle pulled out Flaming Meteor. Finally, Jet slowly unfolded Midnight Rose, letting Ruby see every detail, the blade gleaming even in daylight.

There was a moment of silence in which Ruby and Jet locked eyes. But before either could look away, the gong had sounded.

"Freezerburn!" Ruby yelled, and her teammates responded, blanketing the arena in mist.

"Flame Twister!" Jet's voice sounded out, and Ruby could see Lilac leap into the air, while Nouvelle spun in circles, generating fire as she did. A bright flash shone out which blinded Ruby and her teammates before knocking them backwards. As Ruby rubbed her eyes and got up, she noticed the mist had gone!

The rest of her team was disorientated, and Jet took full advantage. "Attack!" he commanded, and the entirety of team LIJN charged.

At LIJN's charge, Ruby and her teammates rose up to meet them. Jet immediately charged at Ruby, Nouvelle going for Yang, Lilac attacking Weiss, and both Blake and Izzet were nowhere to be seen.

Ruby dodged several swipes from Midnight Rose, and swung back with Crescent Rose. The first was dodged by Jet but the second connected, knocking Jet back. He bounced back using a dark glyph and swung will full momentum, aiming at Ruby's head, but she leaped out of the way and attacked, intending to catch him unawares. She succeeded, cracking him around the head with the side of her scythe, but Jet used his own weapon to hook and slam Ruby into the ground. Jet meanwhile was sent flying into the opposite end of the arena.

Ruby got up and took her bearings. Blake was down, having been beaten by Izzet, who was now facing Yang, Nouvelle's defeated body behind her. Weiss and Lilac were still clashing, and Jet rose in the distance. Ruby checked the Aura screen, she was the only one in the yellow, with everyone else at red, though Jet had the most left out of them.

Jet did not resume his attack, after checking the aura indicators himself. Ruby saw him grin as he called to his team.

"Final Phase!"

Without warning, both Izzet and Lilac disengaged from their opponents, and stood beside Jet. Ruby, Yang and Weiss gathered together, wary.

"Do it, Jet." Lilac said, turning to her leader. "We must end this."

Izzet nodded, and Jet, with an audible sigh, raised his weapon, and yelled to Ruby; "Time to show you what our secret move is! Dark Ultimatum!"

At this, he slashed both Izzet and Lilac with Midnight Rose, taking them out of the fight. Both slumped to the ground, Lilac uttering a pained cry.

"Why would you do that?" Yang yelled. Ruby couldn't understand. Why had he just defeated his own teammates? Jet began to glow with purple energy, and Weiss pointed at the aura screen.

"Um, Yang? Ruby?" They turned and their mouths fell agape. Jet's aura was completely restored!

"Now!" Jet roared, his voice almost demonic now. "YOU. ARE. FINISHED!" He took off with his wings, his eyes turning fully black. Yang immediately moved to block him, but Jet countered with a sweeping swing with Midnight Rose, and hit her with the glowing scythe, sending her crashing into the wall. Weiss met the same fate, the glyph she'd thrown up being broken by Jet's impossible level of strength. Ruby saw both of their auras plummet towards zero.

With a hard whack to the stomach from the blunt end of the scythe, the attacker being too fast to even see, Ruby was sent spiraling backwards. The match was over, and she could barely keep her eyes open, the pain was too intense from Midnight Rose's hit. She couldn't understand. How was Jet this powerful?

Ruby did not last, and was barely conscious, and only vaguely felt Jet picking her up. She tried to cuddle him, to let him know she was ok, before she blacked out.

Jet turned to his team, who were only just picking themselves off the ground. His eyes were an emerald colour again.

"Let's get these girls to the infirmary, then we can patch these wounds."


	11. Chapter 11 - Reconciliation

Eyes cracking open, Ruby looked around to find herself in the Beacon Infirmary. Glancing around, she could see her some of her team were on infirmary beds. Weiss was still unconscious but Blake was awake but a slight shade of green. She was being attended to by Nouvelle.

Ruby looked for Yang, and saw her crumpled form on another bed, with both Lilac and Izzet working on her wounds. Izzet seemed to have experience in doctoring, as she was expertly applying bandages and painkillers, while giving out telepathic orders to Lilac. All Ruby heard was the occasional moan of pain from Yang and the conversation between Blake and Nouvelle, but it was strangely distorted, and Ruby couldn't make much out.

She hear footsteps from behind her, and turned to see Jet walking through the doors of the ward. As he approached Ruby, the pain that had caused her to fall unconscious flared up again, and Ruby lay down again, groaning. Her aura was still low from the hit she'd taken when Jet was empowered by Dark Ultimatum. She recalled the brutal strength he'd displayed at the sacrifice of his teammates.

Ruby was distracted by Jet, who had approached, and was now holding a hand over her. Blue light was flowing from his hand into Ruby, and she felt her aura flare up with renewed strength.

"Use your aura, Ruby. I'll supply more."

Ruby complied, the pain in her stomach slowly disappearing. "How did you do that thing when you attacked your own teammates?" she asked him.

"Ah, that." Jet replied, darkly. "Dark Ultimatum. It's part of my semblance. I can defeat my own allies and absorb their aura, fully healing myself and temporarily boosting my strength. I also hurt my allies, and therefore I hate doing it. But I had no choice. LIJN was at the brink, and my team knows about my semblance. It became a part of our battle plan, even though I detest it."

Ruby put her weak arm on Jet's chest, and felt his mechanical heart pulsing through his jacket. "Feel that?" she asked, and Jet, looking uncertain, nodded. "That's a heart that's pure. I can feel it!" she said, strength returning to her voice. She continued. "Sometimes we have to hurt those that are close to us for the sake of our team, but you are still close to the hearts of your teammates. I'm the same way." she said, sheepishly.

Jet remained silent, but glanced around quickly to check that they were not being watched but the others, then he lightly kissed Ruby on the forehead. Ruby tried to return it, but her weak muscles would not allow it, and she sank sadly back into her infirmary bed.

She felt her consciousness fading again as she hear the ward doors bang open, revealing Nora and Ren, the former bouncing around as she approached Jet, and the latter checking that everyone was safe. He muttered something to Jet, to which he grinned at.

"They're making a speedy recovery," he said, "considering the force I hit three of them with."

"Oh-mi-gosh Jet, how did you DO that?!" Nora asked, her giddy voice reaching Ruby. "Beating your own team up and getting power off that? And then those three brutal swings that ended it!"

"Well, your match clearly ended early…" Jet said, as Ruby blacked out again.

* * *

Ruby was having a nightmare. There was that same gravestone atop the snowy cliff. She ran away from it, the memory of… that night… when she came face to face with the beowolf pack from before. Pulling out Crescent Rose, she began her fight. It always went the same way, every time she killed one, two took its place. Slowly, she was overwhelmed, Crescent Rose pulled away, being pinned to the ground, the glare of their red eyes and the white teeth that would soon be biting into flesh…

Ruby awoke with a start. Breathing heavily, and breaking in a cold sweat, she noticed someone standing over her, and immediately lashed out, panicked. Her fist connected with an aura, and the figure went down. Ruby curled up into a ball, fear still haunting her mind, eyes shut tight. Someone got into her bed, and curled up next to her, embracing her. A decidedly feminine voice spoke softly as she struggled against the contact. Warmth was flowing into her from the outside.

"Shh, shh, it was just a bad dream sis."

Ruby opened her eyes. She was still in the infirmary, but in a private room now. Yang was cupping Ruby's face in her hands as she focussed on the blonde. As Yang let go, she turned her head to see Jet was the one in bed with her. She flushed, but not as much as she'd used to. She smiled happily, she was with her two most favourite people in the world.

Jet let go of Ruby and was about to get out of the bed when Ruby spun around in bed and grabbed him tightly. Yang could barely supress a grin.

"Guess I'm not going anywhere for a while." Jet whispered, also smiling.

"Nope." Ruby said, softly.

"You two are sooo adorable when you want to be!" Yang cried, moving to hug them. Jet, foreseeing the danger of Yang's hugs, used a hastily conjured dark glyph to stop her.

"As much as I'd love us to have a contest of strength that seems to be a hug with you, Yang," he motioned to Ruby "I'm not letting my little rose be crushed while she's on the mend."

"Then who do I hug?" Yang asked, with mock sadness.

"Normally I'd launch myself at you at that, but Ruby's not planning on letting go." Jet said, playfully. Ruby proceeded to nuzzle her head into Jet's chest, still holding his arm in a vice-like grip.

"Ok then, I guess I'd better go before I have a CUTENESS OVERLOAD!" Yang yelled these last two words, stepping out of the door. Grinning, Jet let himself relax as he flicked a finger at the door, the click meaning it had been locked, and allowed himself to be pulled in by Ruby. She immediately pulled him so that they were face to face, and embraced him, while she intertwined her legs around his. Jet was doing his utmost to avoid being turned on, but submitted to Ruby's embrace.

"You're so warm." she whispered. "I love you, like really big, red heart love you."

Jet smiled and snuggled with her. "I love you too, like really big, red heart love you too."

This cheekiness earned him a playful smack on the back from Ruby, but Jet didn't care. For one of the first times in his life, he saw true happiness, without his own restraints.

"_You still have restraints on me."_ Flux piped up as Ruby fell asleep again, snuggling into his chest.

"Granted, but I did give you your chance. You didn't disappoint." Jet replied internally, now addressing Flux as he gazed upon Ruby.

"_She's such a sweetie, isn't she?"_ Flux cooed darkly at the girl pressed against his chest.

"Aren't you jealous? I thought you would be." Jet said as he put his arms around Ruby, and she nuzzled his chest in her sleep, a wide, contented smile on her cute little face.

"_To me, you're my brother, just as I'm your sister, so no, I'm not_." Flux replied.

"I'm glad. It means I can like you both." Jet stated.

"_For that, I am happy. Come, I have something to show you in your dreams_." came Flux's only thought. Jet, who had been resisting sleep, finally let himself drift off, where Flux was waiting.


	12. Chapter 12 - Out of Control

Ruby sighed as she propped herself up on her bed, watching the finals match between LIJN and JNPR begin on her scroll. Before the match, she'd been visited by her team before they had headed to class. Weiss had very helpfully promised to let Ruby take her notes after class, and Jet had also visited, though he did so after her teammates had departed.

As she watched Jet and his teammates charge into combat, she noticed a change over her lover. He was grinning viciously as he fought, taking on Pyrrah and Jaune singlehandedly with Midnight Rose. As she watched, one of Jet's attacks connected brutally with Jaune's stomach, sending him flying towards Pyrrah, taking them both down. Her two friends had been shielded by their aura, but Jaune was reeling from the blow. She also noticed that Jet's normally emerald eyes were slightly darker, dulling their normally brilliant shine.

The rest of his team weren't doing so good though. Nouvelle was engaged in combat with Nora, desperately trying to protect Lilac, who had gone down with a sliver of aura above red, but her own aura was plummeting. Blurs were flashing around them as Izzet and Ren duelled, both using their various semblances in an attempt to out-manoeuvre their opponent.

* * *

Getting up from the blow to his stomach, Jaune checked the aura of all of the contestants. His own aura was in the yellow, after being hit by Jet's scythe. Pyrrah's was at a similar level to his, having taken a hit from Jet as well. Nora was slightly lower, but she looked set to overpower Nouvelle and Izzet, both of which were near zero. Ren and Izzet were at similarly low levels.

Jaune readied himself as Jet looked set to charge. His aura was still green. Jet suddenly changed tack, and jumped back. Pyrrah and Jaune watched him cautiously. He held his hand up, and as he did so, his team mates went in eerie unison from their fights to moving towards him. Izzet disappeared and rematerialized beside him as Nouvelle and Lilac stood in front of him, both barely able to stand.

As team JNPR gathered, Jet raised his scythe into the air. The entire arena was quiet.

"Time for you to take your exit, team JNPR! Final Phase!" Jet roared.

As one, LIJN yelled the cursed name of this move.

"DARK ULTIMATUM!"

Jaune watched in horror and confusion as Jet swung his scythe and brought low all three of his team mates. Pyrrah and Ren looked on with similar expressions on their faces, and even Nora seemed cowed. Jet's aura now glowed a dismal dark purple, and he grinned at them, steeping over his fallen team.

"Now, witness the epitome of darkness!" Jet yelled, almost crazed, his eyes now a deep black. Storm clouds were gathering around him, and Jaune was sure he could feel the power emanating from him. He'd been scared before, but nothing could compare to this!

Jet pointed at each one of them in turn, and called out.

"Lock!"

Jaune was instantly paralyzed. He struggled, using his aura up to the last dregs to break free, but the red aura holding him imprisoned only seemed to tighten its grip. He could hear his teammates struggling against their own bonds, and could only watch as Jet approached him. Jet said nothing, but his eyes gave it away. He was enjoying this, Jaune realized.

He felt the laser blade of Midnight Rose glare as it sliced through his torso. It did not draw blood, but sucked away his aura, leaving him unable to fight. After seeing to his teammates, Jet finally clicked his fingers, and the locks were released. Jaune's muscles could not support his body, and he crumpled.

Jet walked over to his teammates, who were all down on the ground. Gathering them together, he lightly shook Izzet, and ignoring the stunned silence that had greeted his earlier actions, the entirety of team LIJN vanished.

* * *

Back in her infirmary room, Ruby was in shocked silence. Yang was too, having come to watch the match with Ruby. Both were thinking the same thing, and it was only a matter of time before one of them spoke. It was Yang.

"How could he be THAT mean?"

"I d-don't know." Ruby stuttered. "I just don't know."

They didn't have long to wait, as they glanced out of the window to see a completely healed Izzet materialize in the room. For a moment, there was silence, before Yang, remembering what Jet had done to Izzet, asked her "Are you okay? That looked like it hurt."

Izzet did not reply, but with a desperate look, pointed at Ruby, then at herself, then made a talking motion with her hand.

"You want to speak to Ruby?" Yang said, confused. "Go on then."

Izzet shook her head, pointing more insistently at Ruby and herself, and Ruby understood.

"Yang, she wants to speak to me ALONE." she said, emphasizing the last word. Izzet nodded vigorously. Yang sighed.

"Feels like I'm being left out of everything." she said, leaving the room. Izzet immediately started speaking telepathically, tumbling over her quick words and fidgeting.

"Ruby, you have to help us! Jet's losing his self-control, and the Grimm is taking over! Please, please get him to put the control crystal back in his chest! It's the only way of keeping him sane and –"

'"Stop, stop!" Ruby said aloud. Izzet immediately stopped, looking fearful. "First of all, what's this about the Grimm taking over? And what about Jet's sanity? Is he in danger?" She looked at Izzet, who was staring to show signs of hyperventilation. 'Calm down' she thought.

Izzet took several deep breaths, before saying the one thing Ruby did not want to hear with every fibre of her being.

"Jet's in danger. From himself."

Ruby looked at Izzet in disbelief. It was the one thing she feared most. Jet's eye colour change had not been coincidental, after all, she realized.

"Let me start from the beginning." Izzet said. Ruby nodded. "If you're in love with our leader, you should know what he really is."

"Jet is half Grimm." Izzet continued, as Ruby's eyes widened. "He has two personas, as you may recall me saying the first time we met. One is the persona you're in love with, cool, calm, always has an answer for everything." Ruby smiled at the memory.

"The other is a ruthless killer, delighting in inflicting pain. His Grimm half. That half broke free once before, but we were able to stop it. When that 'thing's' in control, his eyes turn black. Did you see it today?"

Ruby had. She recalled the way Jet had delighted in dealing all the damage he legally could to JNPR, eyes dark red and a wide grin on his normally stoic face. She thought 'I did' to Izzet.

"His wings come from his Grimm heritage. So does his strength. But the way we control his alter ego is through the Control crystal that's networked to his heart. Normally, he wants it to be under control himself, but now…"

Tears started to flow from Izzet's eyes, and Ruby grasped her hand. Izzet flinched at the touch, but did not retract her hand.

"He doesn't want it in. I managed to persuade him to keep it in, but he wants to take it out. He claims to have made friends with it, but I don't trust it. But even with my time-travel abilities, I can't match him in combat. He's superior to all of team LIJN. But he'll listen to you. That's why I need your help, Ruby."

'Are you saying that Jet can be like he was before?' Ruby thought back. Izzet nodded, grasping her hand tightly. 'What do you need me to do?' Ruby asked.

"I can take you to him. You need to talk to him, persuade him that he NEEDS the crystal where it belongs!" Izzet's voice rang out as she pulled out a Control Crystal from her pocket, and gave it to Ruby.

Ruby held the small crystal out in her hand. She'd made her decision the moment Izzet had told something was wrong. Flexing and stretching her muscles to make sure that they were working, she nodded at Izzet.

Izzet took Ruby's other hand with her own, and Ruby got out of the infirmary bed.

"We have to save him. Ruby, I'm entrusting everything to you. This crystal is a stronger one than the first one he has. We need to replace it."

Ruby nodded as the world slowed to a stop once more. She knew that she loved Jet too much to let him go. No-one would tear her away from him now. 'Jet WILL come back to his senses, even if I have to fight him to do it' she thought to herself, forgetting that Izzet was telepathic.

"It may come to that." she sent back, as they reached Sunset Hill, the place where Jet was most likely to be. As time resumed, Izzet gasped, and was mirrored by Ruby. Bloody footprints were leading away from the mountain, going towards the forest. As Ruby looked on, an alarm sounded.

It was the Beacon alarms, and after what she'd heard from Izzet, Ruby knew it could only mean one thing.


	13. Chapter 13 - Damnation and Restoration

Without a word, Izzet vanished, presumably to rouse the rest of her team. Ruby continued onwards, running out of Beacon and towards the forest. Before she reached the outskirts of the forest, she was intercepted by none other than Glynda Goodwitch, who was swiftly joined by General Ironwood. Both were wearing stern looks.

"Stop, Ruby. You cannot enter the forest right now." Goodwitch said, putting an arm out to stop Ruby.

"Where's Jet?" Ruby asked, tears growing in her eyes.

"He went into the forest." Ironwood pointed towards it. "Another team was sent to intercept him, but we've received transmissions that indicate Jet is… attacking them. Two of them are severely injured, so they are in the process of retreating, while we call in some heavier arms." At his words, several Paladin robots descended from aircraft above, along with many Android soldiers, all heavily armed.

"I don't have time for this!" Ruby yelled, ducking under Goodwitch and activating her semblance, rushing to the forest, leaping over several glyphs Goodwitch conjured to stop her.

"RUBY! Stop this instant!" Goodwitch yelled after her, intending to pursue her, but was stopped by Ironwood, who had put a hand on her shoulder. She turned, eyes blazing.

"We still need to protect the school, in case Jet returns." Ironwood said. "As your superior, you must obey my instructions."

"In rank only, Ironwood." Goodwitch said, throwing off Ironwood's hand, but did not pursue Ruby, instead watching the machines move into the forest.

* * *

Ruby was a blur, shooting through the forest, swinging, sprinting, searching for Jet. A scream of pain alerted her, and she turned towards a clearing, and burst from the bushes.

The scene that greeted her was one she would never forget. Two students lay sprawled on the earth, one barely alive, the other providing a feast to a Beowolf that had stumbled upon the clearing, gore covering them both. She looked towards the centre of the clearing to see Jet uppercut one of the students still standing and followed up with a decapitating slash with Midnight Rose that ended the student, his ginger haired head rolling even after his headless corpse crumpled to the ground, blood flowing like a crimson fountain out of his neck.

The last student, a girl with hair similar to Ruby's, but longer, was backed up against a wall as Jet approached her. His top half was completely naked now, the machine that was his heart visible, along with his dark wings. His eyes were pits of darkness now, and his skin seemed to be grey instead of pale, gore covering his hands and half of his face.

"W-w-w-w-hy are you d-d-d-doing this?" the girl stuttered, her eyes showing pure fear. Jet merely grinned at her trembling form, malice full in his black eyes.

"Because I was set free. That, and I hunger." Jet replied, and brought his scythe down in a wide arc that eviscerated the unfortunate girl, cutting her in twain.

He then turned around, and his eyes met Ruby's, who stood there, Crescent Rose out.

"Well, well. Look what sprouted from the foliage. It's my little rose." Jet said. His voice had lost any semblance of control, and was tinged by insanity. "Come to play?" he continued, eyeing Crescent Rose.

"What have you done Jet?!" Ruby yelled at him, her façade failing as she lowered Crescent Rose. Jet looked confused, but swiftly regained his composure.

"Jet? Oh, right, _his_ name." he said. "I'd nearly forgotten it. Well, come dine with me, Ruby, and see the morsels I have to serve up!" At this, he gestured towards the corpses of his victims, some of which had stopped bleeding, the Beowolf having left.

"I'm going to bring you back, Jet!" Ruby swore, but before she could pull out the crystal, an automated voice sounded from behind her.

"Wanted Individual Jet. Put down the weapon and raise your hands."

Turning, Ruby saw the androids, their weapons trained on Jet. Turing back to him, she saw Jet's crazed eyes widen in fear at the sheer amount of guns trained on him.

"Ah, stuff this!" Jet yelled, before a blur appeared around him, and he vanished into the trees. As Ruby chased after him, she realised that it only made sense that Jet had copied some of his team's abilities.

* * *

After what felt like several hours, Ruby saw Jet's blur disappear into a cave somewhere deep in the forest. She had no idea where she was, only that Jet was now cornered. With her heart beating harder than she'd ever felt in her life.

She entered the cave, and it didn't take long for her to locate Jet. He was standing in the centre of the dome-like cave, which was the size and dimension of a tennis court. By the light of sunset entering the cave, she gazed upon her lover. He was watching her expectantly.

"Enjoying my little game of tag?" Jet asked.

"What do you think?!" Ruby panted.

"I see that crystal in your hand. You're not going to restrain me!" Jet roared, pulling out Midnight Rose. Ruby readied herself, but Jet suddenly smiled, as if having a sudden realization.

"Ah, that's an idea." Jet said, now calmer than before. He threw Midnight Rose into the air, and it disintegrated into shadows before gathering around his hands. They materialised, this time forming purple versions of Ember Cecilia, but there were four scythe blades on each gauntlet, each forming an X, and crystal spikes covered each gauntlet, with a gun barrel in the centre of each claw. Jet flexed each claw, and the gun barrels started to glow purple as he did, his wings expanding and stretching.

"I'll use these to fight now. Ruby," Jet laughed a little as he said this, "meet the combination of Midnight Rose with Ember Grave. Ember Roses: Pain and Agony, meet your first victim!"

After saying this, Jet fired a purple ball of energy directly at Ruby!

Ruby immediately leaped over the energy ball, which detonated against the cave wall behind her, and fired a bullet from Crescent Rose in order to fly straight at Jet, scythe aimed at his chest. Jet immediately parried with one of his claws, before raising the other and making a grab at Ruby's weapon, but Ruby snatched her weapon out of his reach.

Snarling, Jet fired another blast at the ground and leaped away. Ruby dodged away from the blast as Jet charged at her from the roof of the cave. Whirling Crescent Rose, Ruby span straight into Jet, who raised his gauntlets to parry it, but the force of the blow knocked him over instead. Ruby immediately moved to push the crystal into his chest but Jet immediately rose with a spinning kick that pushed her back.

Switching to her cross-clips, Ruby dashed around Jet, trying to disorientate him, but Jet followed her movement and grabbed Crescent Rose, this time successfully wrenching it from her grip. Ruby herself was thrown into the wall, and gazed up in fear at the red-eyed Jet attempting to crush her weapon. After struggling to do so, he threw it against the opposite wall of the cave and turned to face Ruby, but she'd already retrieved her weapon, and raised it defensively.

Roaring in frustration, more animalistic than human at this point, he charged at her again, but misjudged and slammed into the wall when Ruby ducked under him. The hit hadn't phased him, but Ruby realized that his weakness was his frustration. She changed tack, dashing around him, getting within an inch of striking distance, but dashing out of reach every time he swung at her.

"Stay. Still. So. I. Can. Hit. You!" Jet yelled, slashing at Ruby with each word, but each attack was dodged by the younger girl. Finally, Jet made a furious charge against Ruby, intent on cutting her down, and Ruby seized her chance, ducking to the side of Jet and plunging the Control Crystal into the device on his chest! Jet's red eyes immediately widened, his pupils becoming pinpricks as he stopped moving.

"I-I don't… believe it." Jet whispered. His eyes were now a deep orange, and he looked at Ruby, now using his claws as support. "You… have… beaten me! Now… I will… relinquish control." He roared his last, before crumpling to the ground.

Ruby knelt over him, folding Crescent Rose. Her repressed feelings of fear, pain, and sadness came flooding back and she shuddered, finally breaking. Tears flowed freely onto Jet's exposed stomach as she cried, holding him tightly.

* * *

Jet felt awful as he awoke. The first thing he noticed was that he hadn't any shirt on. The second was that there was something wet and heavy on his chest. Opening his eyes, he noticed Ruby, still crying onto his chest. Memories suddenly came back to him like a tidal wave, everything Flux had done. He felt sick, and the sticky blood on his hands wasn't helping.

As he raised his head, Ruby looked up. Her cheeks were flushed scarlet, her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Fear was evident in her eyes, but Jet somehow knew the one thing he could say to calm her down.

"Ruby. Ruby, I'm back."

He knew his eyes had returned to their emerald colour as he spoke those words.

Ruby said nothing for a moment, before pulling Jet in, kissing him. Jet submitted, noting as he did so that Ruby was shuddering, clearly remembering what he'd been like before the Control Crystal. As they pulled apart, Jet spoke.

"Ruby. I don't know what my other side did, but thank you, thank you for bringing me back."

Ruby smiled weakly, but the moment passed. "I'll fill you in." she said.

* * *

After Ruby had finished explaining what he'd done, Jet looked a little green. He slammed a fist into his own chest, not caring about the fact that it was caked in dried blood.

"Stupid, _fucking_ idiot." he said to himself. "But wait," he continued, as Ruby drew a sharp breath from his curse, "if you ran away with me, then that makes you…"

"Wanted as well, yeah." Ruby said, glumly. It was now dusk. She had no idea how much time had passed. Jet stood up, and Ruby did so too.

"It looks like we're on our own for this one. I'll have a look around, see if I can find a way to wash myself down. Check my backpack. It'll have useful stuff inside." Jet said, as he left the cave. Ruby picked up the black leather pack, and turned it upside-down. Out fell Jet's jacket, along with a dust light, an igniter that Ruby knew was also powered by dust, and 8 days' worth of rations. She immediately lit the dust light, illuminating the cave, and noticed a spiral device that she didn't recognise, and left it alone.

Jet didn't take long to return, bringing with him a batch of strawberries and a slab of meat along with a few branches from a tree. Ruby also noted he was now clean. He sat down opposite Ruby.

"Found a river near the cave, and there was a deer that a Grimm must have gotten. I stumbled upon these strawberries on the way back." he said, and Ruby's eyes lit up at the strawberries. At Jet's nod, she tore into them eating all of them in the space of a second. Jet was not too far behind with the raw meat, his Grimm constitution protecting him from food poisoning or any bugs in the meat.

That reminded Ruby of what Izzet had told her. She waited until Jet was done wiping his mouth, before turning to face him. He had a contented smile, but this changed to a serious expression once he saw Ruby's face.

"Jet, when were you going to tell me about your Grimm side?" Ruby asked, an accusatory tone in her voice. Jet sighed, and his shoulders sagged.

"I was hoping to avoid it entirely. After all, who would still love someone who was part calm and collected, and also part ruthless killer, ready to strike the moment I lose control?" Jet confessed, not making eye contact with Ruby. She said nothing, but tackled him to the ground, embracing him.

"Jet. Get a hold of yourself." Ruby whispered. "I'm not going to stop loving you."

Jet smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and his wings as well, forming a cocoon-like structure. As Ruby gave a cute little yawn, Jet's wings started producing heat, which caused both lovers to swiftly fall asleep, still embracing one-another.


	14. Chapter 14 - Hunters

There was silence in General Ironwood's office. Classes had been dismissed for the day in memory of the team Jet had ruthlessly slaughtered. What made the situation worse was that Ruby had gone with him, which meant that even if she had survived the encounter, it was impossible to survive that deep in the forest.

Ironwood was not alone. Stood before him were the remaining members of teams RWBY and LIJN, along with Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch. Weiss, Blake, Nouvelle, Izzet and Goodwitch all wore similar expressions of stern appraisal. Yang's eyes were red and she looked livid, and Lilac's anger burned just as strongly, though she did not show it through her aura. Ozpin held a calm gaze, but his eyes showed deadly malcontent.

"…And that is where we stand." Ironwood finished. He had just explained the situation about Jet to the people in front of him.

"Let me see if I am correct in stating this, General." Ozpin asserted. "Not only did your application of extreme force to the situation not save the team sent to capture Jet, but it failed to capture him in their stead, and has continued to fail to find him, let alone make another attempt at capturing him. Is this the _general_ gist?"

"…It is." Ironwood replied. Izzet turned to Nouvelle, and the two made eye contact, before they both turned again to face Ironwood.

"Izzet tells me ze following: Of course it would fail! You 'ave no idea who you're dealing with! I am one to agree with her – your military might eez great indeed, but nothing short of a small army of those machines will stop him." Nouvelle said, in her strong accent.

"Yeah." Lilac piped up, her voice shaking with repressed anger. "Even alone, when his eyes turn black, Jet's more than a match for a whole team of hunters and huntresses, as we witnessed first-hand."

"Perhaps." Ironwood said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "Which is why I wish to make a proposal to you all. Working in close corroboration with my latest combat models, I propose that we conduct a thorough sweep of the Emerald Forest. As soon as contact is made with Jet, we will use overwhelming force to take him down."

"What about Ruby?" Weiss and Blake asked as virtually the same time.

"Until we know about her true position in the matter, if Jet hasn't killed her, we must treat her the same as him, regrettably." Ironwood replied. This statement pushed Yang's temper over the edge.

"You bastard! Ruby is NOT like Jet!" Yang moved to punch Ironwood, but Izzet held out a hand and froze Yang in time. Ozpin and Goodwitch silently thanked her for this interception.

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say we all consent to this plan?" Goodwitch asked the others, who all gave signs of ascent, except for Yang, who still could not move.

"In which case, I will convene with Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch. As for you six." Ironwood said, thinking.

"You will be lead by Weiss Schnee in the search for your leaders, and we will refer to you temporarily as team WINBLY. That is all. You are dismissed."

* * *

"Flux! Come out NOW!" Jet yelled.

He stood atop a snowy Sunset Hill, with snowflakes dancing in the wind of the dream world. Jet was furiously scanning the surroundings for his other half. He looked the same as he did in the real world, minus his wings and control machine.

"Here, Jet." came Flux's reply as she materialised in front of him. She was a humanoid type of Grimm, fur everywhere, claws sprouting from her fingers and Jet's wings were on her back. Her red eyes gave away her fear as Jet rounded on her.

"Before I tell you what you've done to Ruby and I, let alone the people that you killed, perhaps you can explain yourself?" Jet sternly asked the grimm, arms folded.

"I… I'm sorry, Jet." Flux whimpered, and tears appeared at the corners of her eyes. "It was the hunger. Normally, I can control myself, but if I'm not fed, I go berserk. I ran into the forest to find something to kill, but then that team arrived. One of them had cut themselves, and the smell of the blood… well… you know what happened."

"I thought Dark Ultimatum feeds you." Jet said, confused. Flux seemed to sigh.

"It does. But I need death, remember?" she replied.

"If we get out of this, then I'll arrange something." Jet said.

"Regardless, you must awake now." Flux muttered, before vanishing.

* * *

Ruby awoke to the sound of birds chirping. She was immersed in warmth, and she was cuddling into Jet, though she couldn't see by the fact that they were cocooned in his wings. It was immensely comfortable, given the circumstances, but Jet needed to wake up so they could find some more food. With her stomach growling, she gently shook Jet awake. His eyes gleamed in the darkness.

"What, is break time over now?" he asked sleepily. Ruby gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and with a sigh, Jet unfurled his wings. Looking around they saw that nothing had changed in the cave, which Ruby was pleasantly surprised about. Jet, however, motioned to a corner of the cave, in which a human figure was snoozing. Ruby approached the figure, with Jet readying Pain and Agony as he walked behind her. With a shock, she recognised the figure.

"Penny?"

It was indeed her, curled up in a ball, wearing her customary shirt but her skirt was replaced with black trousers with green highlights. Her eyes opened, and she smiled at Ruby.

"Salutations, friend Ruby!" she said, getting up. "But, wait, what are you doing here?"

Her eyes found Jet, and they immediately narrowed. "You're the one I'm looking for! Ruby stay back!" Her customary swords deployed from her backpack as she pushed Ruby to the side.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Jet yelled, backing up as Penny advanced on him. "Penny, is it? If you're a friend of Ruby's, then you're not my enemy!" he said, retracting his claws.

"He's telling the truth, Penny!" Ruby said, running between them. Penny stopped advancing, but still kept her swords pointed at Jet.

"I've been ordered to capture you, Jet." Penny said.

"Would you really attack a guy who was loved by your best friend?" Jet asked, challengingly. "And who loves her?" he quickly added.

Penny blinked. "No." she said, eyes wide. "That's impossible. You're only capable of destruction!" she said, voice rising.

"It's true, Penny." Ruby said. "If you killed Jet, or captured him, I would never forgive you." she continued quietly, and her voice scared Penny.

"Ruby." Penny took a step back as she spoke. "Is Jet a good man?"

"Yes. He was manipulated into doing what he did."

Behind Ruby, Jet raised an eyebrow. Penny's swords retracted, and she walked calmly past Ruby towards Jet, and extended a hand.

"I hope you can accept my sincerest apologies, Jet. I thought you were an enemy. But if Ruby sees you as a friend, then you are no enemy of mine." Penny said solemnly. Jet gave Ruby a smile, and she replied in kind.

"Apology accepted, Penny. Now," he beckoned to Ruby, "we have much to discuss, it seems."

"Yes." Ruby and Penny both replied in unison, and Ruby added "Sir", which earned her a laugh from both Penny and Jet, who ruffled her hair playfully as the three sat down on the cave floor.


	15. Chapter 15 - Gaping Wounds

Yang sat alone in team RWBY's dorm room. She was on her bunk, cross legged, and her eyes, while still a soft purple, were red and puffy. The one thing that burned far greater than her shock at Jet was the sadness and pain that came at Ruby's absence. Her tears still flowed freely, and she sobbed, as she had done several times. She barely even registered the opening and closing of the door, and barely reacted when Lilac leaped up onto the bunk. Lilac, for her part, said nothing. She took Yang's hands in her own and pulled her into a hug. Only when Yang submitted to the hug did she speak.

"Let it all out babe." Lilac said, soothingly, her blonde locks intertwining with Yang's as she sobbed into her shoulder. "I miss our leaders too." Lilac admitted, a tear of her own falling onto Yang's back.

"Why? Why did this have to happen AGAIN?!" Yang yelled, her voice shaking at the effort of keeping it steady. "Why did Jet do what he did? Why did Ruby go after him?"

Seeing Ruby's sister like this, broken and downcast nearly shattered Lilac's resolve. She lifted Yang off her shoulders, and cupped her hands around her face, lifting it up so that they made eye contact.

"Ruby and Jet were deeply in love with one another. Ruby would have been heartbroken if she didn't go after him, even though Jet was, and probably still is, insane with his other half."

Yang pushed herself up. "You mean the Grimm half?" Yang asked, and Lilac nodded. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"Would you, or anyone he had met besides LIJN be friends with him if they knew he was half Grimm? Lilac responded, keeping a level tone.

'She did have a point' Yang thought. Both girls were distracted by the rest of team WINBLY entering the dorm.

"As much as I'd hate to interrupt you two, Izzet here has something to show us." Weiss called up to them, and Lilac sighed, before jumping down from the bunk. Yang followed, and took a seat in the circle of six.

"Izzet and I 'ave been talking. We need you to know what Jet's Grimm half forces him to do. The whole situation was covered up, and no-one knows what truly happened, save for un." Nouvelle said, promptly.

Izzet pointed to her own head as she was addressed.

"She's going to show you all first-hand what happened. It was a basic mission, save a small village from an attack by ze Grimm. But Jet, he'd just learned of his parent's deaths. Combined with ze emotional strain of an argument I had with him before," she blushed at this, but continued, "ze crystal in his heart cracked and zen rolled out of his chest. We only learned about what zat can do when we got to ze village. Now, everyone, close your eyes. I'll let Izzet take over."

All but Izzet obeyed, closing their eyes. Eyes flaring colours across the visible spectrum, she replayed the memory in front of her eyes, transmitting it to the five around her.

'It was not a pretty one' she thought to herself, as the familiar feeling of flames began to heat up her body.

* * *

"Ahh. It feels so good. I am finally free!" Jet roared as she stood amongst several burning huts. Fire and smoke filled the dusk, and the village was home to corpses of pale-skinned tribal warriors. Not a sign of life, apart from Jet, was present. His customary jacket was thrown aside, and his wings cast a dark, flickering shadow across the scene. His eyes were Flux's, and they scanned the area hungrily. Finding nothing to gore, he grabbed the corpse of the village chief, and dismembered it, lapping up the blood.

It was only when he was finished that Izzet arrived on the scene, Lilac close behind her. They stared, open mouthed at Flux, who controlled Jet at the time, and he regarded them cruelly.

"What's the matter? Time to go?" he asked, as a child might before being taken from a playpen.

"What have you done, Jet?" Lilac yelled at him, pulling out her whips, Izzet the same with her swords. Flux activated Shadow Meteor, the purplish flames contrasting with the mass of red and orange.

"Sated my hunger, of course." Flux replied smoothly, as if he'd done nothing wrong, merely plucked some weed growing in his own personal garden.

Izzet suddenly tapped Lilac, and with eyes still focussed on him, spoke telepathically.

"He's not himself. His mind's overthrown by something! I have a way to stop him, but we need to act fast!"

Lilac nodded, and turned her hair to electric curls, similar to her crackling whips. Flux roared with Jet's derisive laughter, insanely.

"Fine. You both will provide me with my next meal!" he shouted, and leapt up, taking flight with his wings. Izzet and Lilac watched him as he rose, then charged, plummeting towards Lilac with Shadow Meteor pointed directly at her heart!

Lilac kept her cool, waiting until the last second before diving out of the way. Jet's weapon embedded itself in the ground, and the wielder was sent flying, landing several hundred metres away. Lilac leaped on him, and zapped him with everything she had, desperate to stun him. Jet was resisting the high voltage, and was rising when Lilac yelled out "Now, Izzet!"

Izzet raised her hand, and a sphere encased Lilac and Jet, before turning greyscale and freezing them in time. Izzet concentrated with all her might, determined to keep them encased. She heard rustling behind her, and turned to face Ozpin, who had come with a fast transport vehicle.

"We need to restrain him. Now!" Izzet begged Ozpin, still holding the time sphere.

"We will." Ozpin simply said, as early model androids injected Jet with heavy sedatives, and Izzet leaped into the passenger seat of the vehicle, as Ozpin himself took the wheel, while Jet and Lilac were loaded in the back, the latter unconscious from overuse of her aura.

As the vehicle made its way back to Beacon, Izzet gradually started to drift off, and the entire environment started to blur and fade.

* * *

As everyone came back to her senses, Izzet fell backwards, exhausted. Weiss immediately noticed, and dove behind her, supporting her.

After realising that Izzet was in no state to move, and was starting to burn up, Weiss picked the smaller girl, and tucked her into her own bed. She barely recognised the fact that this would mess up her bed, but did it anyway, her concern for her ally outpacing ideas of pride. When Izzet was tucked in, she turned to the rest of her team.

"S-see?" Lilac stuttered. "See what he was like the last time he lost control? We need to save him and Ruby!"

"We won't be able to do that when Ironwood and his lackeys are with us." Nouvelle replied.

"Then we go without them." Weiss said, and everyone turned to look at her. "They can't control us if we're not there."

"Then that's what we'll do." Blake smiled, and Yang signalled her consent to this plan via a thumbs up.

"Ok then." Weiss said, business-like. "Prepare yourselves. Tomorrow, we find Jet and Ruby!"

Yang and Blake immediately left, but Lilac and Nouvelle remained.

"What about Izzet?" Lilac asked.

"Don't you worry. I'll take care of her for you." Weiss said softly. "Do what you need to do."

With a nod, both Nouvelle and Lilac left, leaving Weiss alone with Izzet. She went to the bathroom, taking a bowl filled with cold water, a small flannel and a cup. Returning to the room, she filled the cup with drinking water, then returned to Izzet. The girl was snoozing gently, but when Weiss gave an involuntary sigh, she opened her eyes. Realising where she was, Izzet started fussing weakly, and looked up worriedly at Weiss. She gave her a questioning look.

"What's wrong, Izzet?" Weiss asked, as Izzet gave up out of exhaustion.

"This is your bed." came Izzet's voice.

"Oh, don't be silly." Weiss replied. "Here, you might like this."

She dipped the flannel in the cold water, then wiped Izzet's burning and sweaty forehead. Izzet smiled in appreciation, leaning so Weiss could get more of her face with the flannel. She closed her eyes, and Weiss could swear she felt the girl loosen up a little.

"That's so nice…" Izzet thought, and Weiss couldn't help but give an internal 'aww' at the sight of her, wrapped up in a blanket. The sight reminded her of Ruby, someone who never failed to look cute in bed, even though Weiss kept her cold exterior up as she removed the flannel from Izzet's face.

"I'll let you sleep." Weiss whispered. "But first, I need you to listen to what we plan to do regarding Ruby and Jet."

Izzet said nothing, but propped herself against the wall as Weiss began to fill her in about the events after the memory had ended, her attention on Weiss' every word.


	16. Chapter 16 - Phantasmal Force

"DAMMIT!" Jet yelled in frustration as Penny revealed the cards in her hand. 'She had, what was it, a flush?' Ruby thought, as Jet revealed his cards, showing a two pair. Penny smiled sweetly at him, then took all the beads in the pile.

It had been several days now since they had run away. After Penny had explained that she'd been sent out to hunt for Jet, she left during the evenings to return to beacon in order to report back to Ironwood. During this time, Jet and Ruby had been foraging for food, playing in the river, and having a good time despite the lifestyle they were forced to live.

Penny had secretly delivered a pack of playing cards, which Jet had used to pass the time. He'd taught Ruby poker, and she was quite good, though today she had tough luck, owing to her small bead pile.

While Jet was better than Ruby, Penny was an utter demon at this game, as her skills at mathematical processes were clearly superior to Jet's allowing her to work out probabilities and use them to her advantage. Jet had made it his mission to beat her one day, but that day wasn't today, as Jet had just run out of beads.

"How are you this good?" Jet asked Penny. The two had gotten along well, and were now friends. Penny had only heard about Jet's Grimm half, and it was nice for Ruby to see Penny's realisation that that half was merely one side of Jet's coin. Jet had gotten up, presumably intending to go out and get some more food, and Ruby continued her game with Penny. She didn't last another hand, with Penny forcing her to use all of her beads.

"You got me." Ruby said, and Penny beamed at her. Jet had returned, carrying Crescent rose. Ruby took her weapon, giving him a questioning look.

"Penny?" Jet called. "Do you mind doing me a favour?"

"Certainly, friend!" Penny said, jovially, leaping to her feet.

"I need you to pull out your swords." Jet said. Penny did so, deploying her 8 swords, which hovered defensively.

"What for?" Penny asked curiously. Jet said nothing, but reached out for one of the swords, and Ruby saw what he was about to do. As he touched the blade, the familiar shadows gathered around him, coalescing into 8 blades, duplicates of Penny's, except his were glowing blue, and the hafts were black.

"He just copied your swords." Ruby explained to a confused Penny. "It's part of his semblance."

Jet experimentally swung the swords that were hovering in mid-air. "Their name is also a derivative of your weapons. Penny, you've just helped me create the Shadow Sirens."

Penny's swords returned to her backpack as Jet's vanished.

"So you can copy things?" she asked.

"Only weapons and Aura abilities." Jet said. "Now, we should train. Penny, do you mind if I spar with Ruby?"

"Sure." she said, and backed away. Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose as Jet drew out a dark version of… MYRTENASTER?

Ruby instantly readied herself. If Jet was using Weiss' strategy, he would be defensive. She took a couple of swings at him, but he easily deflected both, and made a swift jab at her shoulder, but this was blocked. He changed his mode to red, and an aura the colour of dried blood started emanating from the weapon, before using it to conjure a fireball which he hurled at Ruby, but she easily dodged the slow-moving projectile.

Penny sat against a wall of the dimly lit cave, entranced by the duel that was happening. She'd never thought that two of her only friends were both this talented. She ducked as an ice shard fired from Jet missed Ruby and nearly speared her in the eye, and resolved to pay attention to the fight.

Ruby was relentless in her attacks, but Jet maintained his defence, swiftly blocking every attack, but Ruby gave him no chance to counterattack. Realising that he'd need another means to fight, he surrounded himself in shadows, and teleported away to the other side of the cave. Ruby watched him, wary.

"Now combine!" Jet called, as his weapon disappeared. "Silver Sliver and Midnight Rose!"

Darkness gathered around his chest, and when it cleared, Ruby saw that he now had a gemstone with a small metal plate attached to his chest. The palms of his hands sported a gem each too, and all three glowed a menacing blood red. Grinning at Ruby, he immediately conjured three fireballs, and threw all three at Ruby with surprising speed. Dodging them, she used her semblance to close with Jet, but before she could touch him, Jet threw up an ice shield, blocking her attack and embedding her weapon in the ice.

As Ruby struggled to pull her weapon out, she saw Jet throw two more things into the air which merged into one dark cloud, coalescing on his arms. Two long, black blades now protruded from his arms on the sides, each triple the length of Jet's arm and reaching backwards as well as forwards, which gave off their own bloody aura. Jet swung his first blade at the near defenceless Ruby.

Ruby shut her eyes, expecting the knockout blow. It never came, merely a clang of metal on metal. She opened her eyes to see Penny, who had thrown herself in-between Jet and herself, swords out, one of them in her hand. She broke the ice encasing Ruby's weapon as Jet jumped back.

"So I'm to face both of you now?" Jet asked, amusedly. Despite the seriousness of the duel, he was still the confident Jet Ruby had known.

"Of course, if you don't mind." Penny said cheerfully. "I'm combat ready."

"In that case, let me assume a more powerful form." Jet said as Ruby and Penny faced him.

"What do you mean-" Ruby started to ask, but Jet raised both his arms, his weapons vanishing. Midnight Rose, Silver Sliver, the Shadow Sirens, the Ember Graves, along with what Ruby could only assume to be a dark copy of Gambol Shroud. All of these weapons surrounded Jet, and a dark shadow filled the cave. All Ruby could hear were the clinking or machinery.

The shadows receded. Stood before them was Jet, with his eyes glowing a bright green as he stood before them, and both Penny and Ruby's mouths both hung wide open at the sight of him.

"The combination of darkness with the weapons of team RWBY and Penny's." Jet explained, and he grinned as they took his full profile in. "Jet Black Phantom. And armed with Astro Reaper."

Jet was clad in a full body purple armour suit, with blue lights on his chest, arms and the bottoms of his boots. He was not wearing a helmet, but behind Jet hovered a strange pattern of blue and purple dust crystals, which moved when he moved, maintaining their shape. They were long and thin, with nasty-looking spikes pointed outwards, and radiated their own glow. He looked similar to the Paladin mech Ruby had fought with her team once when Torchwick had stolen it.

Jet's scythe, Astro Reaper, was similar to Midnight Rose, but had several changes. The laser blade was thicker, longer and now glowed crimson. The gun that it was had also become larger, and also had two sparking energy cells next to the trigger. The final change was something only Ruby noticed. Her symbol at the hilt and base of the blade had changed. The red rose was now intertwined with a black rose, and both had thorns.

Jet looked terrifying, even more so when they both discovered that he wasn't actually standing on the ground, but hovering in mid-air, the crystals likely causing that effect. He grinned at them, and even Penny looked impressed.

"What do you think?" Jet asked, twirling his scythe, the blade's glint visible in the semi-light.

"Sensational!" Penny exclaimed just as Ruby said in awe "Wooaaah."

He didn't have much time to revel in his new form, however. A fireball came from the cave opening, one that looked familiar, nailing Jet in the back and pushing him forwards slightly. Turning, they saw the familiar sights of Weiss, Blake and Yang. While Ruby wanted desperately to greet and hug her team, she knew with a heavy heart that if they had attacked Jet, they were probably going to try and capture or kill him. They'd have to get through her first.

She stuck close to Jet even as the three figures drew closer, and Jet stopped hovering, landing on the ground. Penny dived into a portal Jet had summoned for her as he called out to them.

"Greetings, friends." he called. All three of the new arrivals wore a look of grim determination. For once, not even Yang ran to greet her team leader. Something was really off.

Weiss cleared her throat. "Jet and Ruby, we are here to take you into custody. Don't resist, or face all three of us."

Ruby was about to move forward, but Jet held out his scythe and stopped her. He used telepathy to speak to Ruby.

'Let me handle this.' he whispered inside Ruby's head, and then turned back to the rest of her team.

"You intend to capture one side of a coin, one that is currently not present. I assume Izzet showed what happened last time someone tampered with me?" Jet asked.

"She did." Blake said, taking a step towards Jet. "But we are to capture you regardless of your mental state."

Jet stole a glance at Ruby. "I wish it didn't come to this. But, this is our answer to your earlier question." he said, quiet and serious.

Crescent Rose were unfolded, and as Ruby got into a combat stance, Jet began levitating again, the crystals behind him realigning, before readying his own scythe.


	17. Chapter 17 - Heroes Clash

Yang was doing her best to maintain her seriousness. She felt saddened that Ruby hadn't come over to them, and had remained with Jet. But she had a job to do, to restrain Ruby and bring Jet down. She had to admit, he looked intimidating in his suit, and that scythe, Astro Reaper, looked painful.

Shaking her thoughts off, she charged, with Blake and Weiss following, and she triggered her semblance, adding fire to her strength.

* * *

Jet smiled as Ruby disappeared into one of the physical shadows he had conjured. The crystals behind his suit aligned into a pattern and turned yellow, before he opened a portal right in front of Yang, who ran into it and disappeared. Jet then directed another opening at Blake, and Yang came flying out, directly hitting Blake, both going down.

Weiss immediately conjured several fireballs and sent them at Jet. A purple force field appeared around Jet, deflecting them, and he swung Astro Reaper, sending an energy blast straight at her with alarming speed. Weiss dodged it, but Jet fired two more, catching her leg with the third one, sending her spinning out of control, and she fell, disorientated.

Yang and Blake were both running at Jet now, Blake using her shadow clones in an attempt to confuse Jet. He waited until they got within striking distance, before unleashing a red shockwave from his suit's core, which covered every direction and blew Yang and the real Blake straight back to Weiss, and the three of them fell in a heap.

Weiss stood back up with her team and sent several more fireballs, but they were also useless against Jet's barrier. Bullets fired from both Yang and Blake were also ineffective, merely causing the shield to flash as they were deflected.

"We have to take that shield down! Blake, Yang, any ideas?" Weiss asked her team, crouching as Jet summoned fireballs of his own, purplish flames reminiscent of Shadow Meteor.

"Yang! We need to use the same attack as we did on Torchwick!" Blake called to her teammate, who responded by grabbing one end of Gambol shroud.

"No you don't!" Jet yelled, sending the five fireballs he had conjured straight at Blake. Weiss ran to block them, conjuring a big glyph to block four but one got past and she took the hit using her aura to minimise the damage. Even so, she was flung into the cave wall by the impact, taking even more damage.

Fortunately, the time she had bought had been enough for Blake and Yang to build enough power for their Bumblebee move. Jet turned to see the roaring ball of energy flying at him, and Ruby saw with a jolt that his eyes had turned black again. She knew what she had to do.

"Ruby! Attack!" Jet called, conjuring a shadow behind Blake, and Ruby triggered her semblance.

No-one would bring him down, not if SHE had anything to say about it!

She catapulted herself out of the shadow, catching Blake unawares, and with a howl, both crashed to the floor. Yang's charge was immediately re-directed, and she slammed into the same cave wall Weiss had been flung into.

Ruby leaped through a portal Jet created beside her and emerged back at her lover's side. Jet grinned wildly as his crystals assumed a red 'X' shape behind him, and he immediately pointed at Weiss, Blake and Yang.

"End of the line. Lock!" he called.

The three huntresses were instantly paralyzed, held in place by the same red aura they had seen before in Jet's fight against JNPR. Although all three of them struggled, none of them could break free.

However, Jet's victory was short lived, as the small pocket of space that he was in suddenly turned grey, and he was frozen in time! Ruby, knowing what this meant, dived into a shadow that was still present.

Ruby looked from her shadow to see Izzet, Nouvelle and Lilac joining the fray, and her heart sunk. If Jet was frozen, then this just got a lot harder.

The crystals on Jet's back were not frozen however, and were glowing white as they began to spin in a circular pattern. Izzet's eyes widened even as Nouvelle and Lilac begun to understand what was happening. Suddenly, the time stop was destroyed with a purple explosion of force from within it, and Jet freed himself. He looked far from happy though.

"That worked before." he said as he readied Astro Reaper, his voice quiet and deadly, "But now I have control of my mind, and that won't hold me down any more."

"You have control?" Lilac asked. "So then…"

"Yup." Jet grinned, his eyes resuming their green colour. "Ruby succeeded. So, either stop fighting now or face my new form."

Nouvelle audibly gasped. "So zis eez Jet Black Phantom."

* * *

There was silence. Then Nouvelle started to walk towards her team leader, weapon still undrawn. Izzet and Lilac followed. Nouvelle broke the silence.

"If you 'ave your mind, we 'ave no reason to fight you, Jet." she said, still closing the gap. "We only came to bring you back."

"We missed you, Jet." Lilac added, and Izzet nodded in agreement. Ruby couldn't help but feel the heart-warming nature of their re-union, but she suddenly felt the shadow she was hiding in fade.

"The one you can thank for that, is right here." Jet said, beckoning Ruby over. She did go, deciding to let Jet guide her actions for now. She could be patient, something she'd learned to be while having Jet as her boyfriend. Upon seeing her, Lilac immediately ran over to her, hugging her. Unlike Yang, whose hugs normally crushed like a vice, Lilac was gentle, despite having a similar build to the brawler.

"I don't know what to say, Ruby, thank you!" Lilac exclaimed, still embracing her. Ruby didn't push her away, but said sheepishly, "It was nothing."

Lilac tearfully laughed, then released Ruby. Her eyes went to her teammates, still locked by Jet, and she realised that she wanted a re-union with her own team. She turned to Jet, and he noticed the pleading look in her eyes. Sighing, he sent a telepathic message to Ruby.

"I'll unlock them, but we need to make sure they won't attack me until they know the truth."

Ruby nodded, and just before he was knocked over by all three members of his team, as he was now on the ground, he retracted the red aura binding Weiss, Blake and Yang. Ruby immediately shot to them at breakneck speed, trying to embrace all three of them. The result was a group hug, and Ruby could not remember being so happy as voices came from everywhere.

"We've missed you so much!" "Don't ever do that again!" "So glad you're back!" "Are you ok?" to name a few.

After a while, the two teams broke apart from their respective hugs, and sat in a circle, under LIJN's insistence. Ruby and her team complied, Ruby herself remaining at Jet's side, who started the proceedings.

"First of all, I want to say that due to my possession by my other side, I've committed actions which are unforgivable. The punishment for which will be severe, regardless of my mental state at the time." he said in a solemn voice. "Normally, I would turn myself in and focus on regaining control, but Izzet has alerted me to a potential outside influence. Flux… my Grimm half," he explained at their confusion, "is also sorry, but she has been manipulated. I don't know how."

'Showtime.' he thought to Flux.

"_Whenever you are ready, sweetheart._" Flux replied.

"Izzet, I need you to relay the other voice in my head to everyone. Speak your replies, he'll hear them."

Izzet nodded and closed her eyes. To all those present, Flux's voice vibrated in the nether of their own minds.

"Greetings." Flux growled, and Jet's eyes assumed their dreaded black. Jet relinquished control of his body, and Flux took over. To Jet, this takeover felt far more natural, probably because he had allowed it this time. "I am Flux, or as you seem to know me, Jet's Grimm half." she continued shortly, using Jet's mouth to speak.

"Why did you kill that team?" Weiss and Ruby both asked at the same time.

"Normally, I would have done it out of hunger." Flux responded sharply. There was no doubt in his words. "But that night was different. I felt so… overcome by bloodlust. A bloodlust so unnatural that even I was surprised. You have my word on that. This kind of bloodlust is only caused by manipulation, therefore someone set this up."

Weiss seemed to take it upon herself to speak. "Correct, Flux, but how would we prove to Ironwood and the police that you are innocent, let alone catching the one who did this? And why should we trust you?" she asked.

"I do not know." Flux admitted. "It may be that we will never find out, and instead Jet and I will take the punishment, the likely of which is expulsion from Beacon followed by imprisonment. But right now, we must be patient, as the law is still searching for me, and justice must be served. You must catch up with one another as well, you've clearly missed each-other. I shall go now."


	18. Chapter 18 - Metropolis of Colour

Ruby and Yang were seated by a tree a fair distance from the mouth of the cave. Throughout their chat, Yang and Ruby had been locked together in a sisterly hug. Normally, Ruby hated being crushed by Yang, but tonight it was a source of comfort for her. Yang had only just let go, and they sat side-by-side, leaning against a tree, gazing up into a rare sight of the sky in the emerald forest. Yang's arm was around Ruby's shoulders, and she was curling up next to the brawler. Yang had just finished telling her what had happened prior to them finding Ruby and Jet.

"…And I saw the cave, and Blake was able to smell you and Jet, you know, her faunus abilities, so we walked in. That was when the fight started." Yang finished. She had been cheery, having finally caught up to Ruby, but while Ruby would normally be the same, her happiness was dulled somewhat by Jet, and worry for him.

"Jet Black Phantom." Ruby said, Yang shivering a little.

"Have you ever seen that before?" Yang asked. "That portal ability, y'know, when he flung me into Blake, it must have been dust related."

"Nothing about Jet really surprises me anymore, I mean about his combat abilities." Ruby said. "When you face him, he has so many different abilities and weapons he can use. His unpredictability is his main weapon, Yang."

"You love him, don't you sis?" Yang whispered. Ruby blushed, but smiled as well.

"We're in love with each other, yes." she whispered back.

"Aww, my little sis is starting to grow up." Yang cooed, pulling her sister closer. "How far have you been with him, though?" she asked, with a serious expression on her face.

Ruby blushed even harder at that. "Um sis, that's private!" she exclaimed softly.

"I have to know." Yang said, still serious. "Ruby, you're still underage!"

"What? No." Ruby said, exasperated. "Jet and I have kissed, but that's all Yang. None of that… other stuff." she said, trying not to look Yang in the eye. Truth be told, she'd been curious, but she was still under 18, and Jet didn't seem to be ready for it. She didn't even know how old he was, and made a mental note to ask him.

"Ok sis, I believe you." Yang said, after a moment of silence. "He's a good guy, when he's on the brighter side of his coin."

Ruby chuckled a little despite herself. "Yang," she said seriously, "Jet doesn't mind puns, but he _hates_ coin jokes."

Yang laughed a little herself, as they turned their heads to the sky above.

"I'll remember not to rattle his head too much, or he might start flipping out." Yang said jokingly.

Ruby laughed with her sister as she gazed up at the stars. She was glad that Yang, at least, had forgiven Jet for his loss of control. She only hoped that Weiss and Blake could do the same, as another separation from her team or Jet would be too much to bear.

'I love you, Jet.' she thought. 'You really are my Romeo, whatever that is.'

* * *

Weiss had taken to gathering some water for the base that Jet had established in the cave. Nouvelle had joined her, and while Weiss normally was neutral towards LIJN in general, she found something akin to similarity in Nouvelle. Despite her accent, she was of a similar calibre to her, though not as high in power as herself, she possessed a business-like manner and seemed well respected.

They were near the waterfall that Ruby had told them about before they left. Nouvelle was gathering water using her semblance to heat it and send the vapour to Weiss, while she was using her dust abilities to remove the impurities, before putting it into several canteens that they'd taken on their journey, where it formed water once again. As she cleared the last vapour, she and Nouvelle sat down to rest on a pile of leaves.

Weiss had gotten used to herself being slightly less than immaculately clean, but she would still try to maintain cleanliness whenever she could. As heiress, it would be wrong of her not to be. She was distracted by Nouvelle sitting down opposite her.

"Something on your mind?" she asked, her tone gentle but still maintaining the crisp and clear voice.

Weiss sighed. Could it really hurt for her to tell Nouvelle? "Jet." she answered. "I still don't fully trust him."

"Zat eez not wrong, Weiss." she said with a knowing look in her vivid blue eye. "Jet eez ze sort of person who normally keeps things to himself. He eez a good leader, yes, but zere are things even we don't know about him."

"Why do you trust him, then?" Weiss asked.

"He eezn't one to disappoint." Nouvelle replied smoothly. "He trusts us, and when he eez asked to perform, he will never fail to give ze best of himself. He eez like a positive mirror, when he eez in control."

"A positive mirror?" Weiss asked, intrigued.

"Yes. If someone eez nice to him, he will be nice back. If zat person is formal, he will be too. But he will not get angry, or reflect ze negative."

Weiss considered. That would certainly explain Jet's ability to both hold formal conversations with her and informal ones with Ruby and Yang as if it was second nature, and why he didn't immediately lash out at her when she confronted him that night back at Vale. Nouvelle leaned a little closer from where she was sitting.

"Between you and me, Ruby eez very lucky to 'ave someone like him. He eez a true friend to me, and if you give him a chance, he can show you zat it was no waste." she said, a little quieter.

"If Flux doesn't come back, then yes, I may well agree with you, Nouvelle." She stood, and so did Nouvelle. "Let's get back to the cave."

"I will follow." Nouvelle replied, and the two began to make the walk back to the cave, Weiss all the while pondering Jet's relationship with Ruby. She decided she'd allow it, for the time being.

* * *

"So what's your semblance supposed to be?"

Jet hissed as he heard the question from Blake. This momentary distraction caused him to miss the fish he'd been intending to spear with Shadow Meteor, and the disturbance caused all the fish to practically vanish from the area. Getting up from where he'd been kneeling, he addressed Blake.

"Dang it, I had that last one." he said, adopting his casual voice. "And as for my semblance, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

They were standing near a stream that was actually flowing from the waterfall area that Weiss and Nouvelle had been collecting water from. Blake had suggested that they come down here because the fish would be diverted from that area towards them. It had worked, as their rapidly growing pile of raw fish could attribute to.

"You've already seen mine." Blake replied coolly. "Creating a copy of myself for a short period."

"Darkness Manipulation." Jet said, confidently. "That, along with an ability to do this." He grasped Blake's hand and she felt a creeping darkness envelop their hands at the contact. It receded after a short time, and Jet finished with "Copying other semblances for my own use."

Blake pulled her hand back, and Jet seemed to have a knowing glint in his eye now.

"You're a faunus, right?" he asked. Blake was taken aback in surprise, she had instructed her team AND Ozpin not to let anyone know. As if sensing her thoughts, Jet swiftly continued. "I picked it up while I was copying your semblance."

"I am." Blake admitted in defeat, untying her bow so that her cat ears unfurled in the cool breeze.

"There's more to a person than meets the eye. I learned that from Ruby." Jet said, scratching Blake behind the ears. As patronising as the gesture was, Blake held back her protest, for he had found that one spot she could never get to, and simply enjoyed the sensation, closing her eyes.

They stood like that for a solid minute before Jet retracted his hand. "You clearly enjoyed that." he whispered. Blake shot him a questioning look, before she realised with a jolt that she'd been purring, something she hadn't done in a while, and blushed in embarrassment.

Jet walked away, back towards the cave, and as Blake watched, he turned back, before tracing a finger across his lips, silently promising Blake not to say a word about what had happened, before disappearing into the bushes that were the start of their return to the cave.

Blake smiled before following the sounds of parting branches. She knew that he could have easily started teasing, something Yang wouldn't hesitate to do, and he'd simply allowed her to enjoy it.

Maybe Blake had misjudged him.

Maybe.


	19. Chapter 19 - Dropping Pennies

Penny sat atop a tree overlooking the mouth of the cave she knew Jet was in. She'd disappeared when team WINBLY had arrived, Jet teleporting her. She'd reported back to Ironwood, and had then returned, and was now pondering whether to descend and find Jet or Ruby.

Penny still didn't know what to really think about them. She'd detected signs of affection and attraction between them, which was a little odd. What did that mean?

She was brought out of her reverie by the appearance of a small girl with silver hair from the mouth of the cave. From the large branch she was perched on, she watched the girl scan the upper treeline. For some reason, she didn't turn in her direction, but instead continued to watch the treeline directly opposite the cave entrance.

As Penny watched her, she suddenly vanished from the spot she was standing. Mere moments after that, the same girl appeared right in front of her, perched on the large branch Penny was, making Penny jump and lose her balance. That shook the branch, and the unknown girl fell too, both landing on the roof of the cave.

As Penny pushed herself into a sitting position, she saw the girl already standing, with a red and a blue blade attached to her arms. The roof of the cave itself was uneven and jagged at places, and it was a miracle that neither of them were seriously hurt. Penny rose and activated her swords, the 8 blades hovering beside her, but her opponent smiled and pointed her red blade at the swords, and each was encompassed in a grey sphere, before they themselves turned grey.

Penny tried to move her swords, but couldn't. They were locked in place? How? Penny looked at the girl, who stood with a frown, both swords by her side again.

"What have you done to my swords?" Penny asked the girl, who was still frowning, but was approaching her, looking confused. "Doesn't matter, I can still beat you without my swords *hic*." That hiccup said all it needed to the girl. After reaching Penny, who was quivering slightly, the girl took Penny's hand, and held it in a gentle grip. A blue glow appeared at the contact.

"Finally, I can communicate." A voice echoed at the back of Penny's mind.

"You're telepathic?" Penny asked aloud.

"I'm also mute, which is why I couldn't speak to you directly. What are you doing here?" the voice asked.

"I'm looking for two friends. Have you seen Jet and Ruby?" Penny asked the girl

"They're here." the voice responded. "My name's Izzet, and I'm one of Jet's teammates."

"Greetings Izzet. My name's Penny." Penny said. "Can you take me to them?"

"We are all out of our cave gathering supplies. I'm on guard duty right now, care to join me until they return?" Izzet asked, letting go of Penny.

"It would be my pleasure, Izzet. Can you release my swords?" she asked, hopeful.

Izzet nodded, and collapsed her red blade, pointing her blue blade at the blades, which unfroze. They retracted into Penny's back. The two girls then dropped from the roof, and entered the cave.

Penny and Izzet took up positions near the dust lamp and sat down. They'd swept all the dust out of it, thanks to Nouvelle and Izzet's Flame Tornado, and so they sat on the stone floor, with a good view of the cave entrance.

"Back then, when we met, you disappeared and then reappeared in front of me. You were also able to freeze my swords in place. How?" Penny asked Izzet.

The silver haired girl smiled, then replied telepathically. "It's my semblance. I'm able to manipulate time. The teleportation is me stopping time everywhere but around me, and freezing your swords was me stopping time around the swords."

"Were you here to capture Jet as well?" Penny asked.

"I was. At the time, Jet wasn't quite… himself, so we were asked to take him down. We found out that Jet was indeed sane, and after I froze him in time, he was in a suit of armour that had enough dust to break my time freeze."

"Jet Black Phantom." Penny recited.

Izzet nodded, before she continued. "If Jet combines five of his dark weapon copies, he creates Jet Black Phantom. It is a vicious weapon, possessing both dust and physical weapons en masse. He can only sustain it for a short period of time, but he's practically invincible with it."

"Invincible? Surely there must be some way to beat him?" Penny inquired, incredulously.

"Time. That's Jet Black Phantom's only weakness." Izzet explained, to Penny's confusion. "As soon as he runs out of energy, he will lose that form."

"What weapon does he use when he's not in that suit? Penny asked, determined to find out every bit of information she could. If Penny was to prove herself, one of the trials she'd have to face would be facing Jet, alone.

"It's normally Midnight Rose. His normal scythe, after his girlfriend." Izzet's voice came softly.

Penny knew she meant Ruby. "Are those two really going out?"

"Well, they aren't really _going out _per se, but they are a couple, and they've already kissed many times, though I don't think it'll go much farther than that for the time being."

Penny simply let the conversation drop at this point, her mind still attempting to put two and two together. If Jet and Ruby were indeed a couple, as Izzet had told her, then did it mean that Ruby, despite her young age, had already found true love?

As she and Izzet kept their silent vigil, Penny sent out a silent prayer for them to still be together after all of this.

Izzet must have noticed this, because as she turned away to check that the bags were there, she cracked a small smile. She was sure that Ruby and Jet would work things out, one way or another. They did fit each other like lock and key after all.


	20. Chapter 20 - Inevitability

All members of RWBY and LIJN were scheduled to reconvene at the cave when night approached. They were originally surprised to find Penny with Izzet, but after both explained the instance they had met along with Jet's insistence that she was on their side, Penny had been accepted into the group. One member of the group was missing, however. Lilac.

"Lilac's not back." Jet whispered to Ruby amongst the conversations that were taking place. They were sat close together, near one of the walls of the cave, both leaning against the wall as they surveyed their teammates. Ruby had been affectionately combing the feathers on one of Jet's wings with one hand, while holding his hand with the other. Jet, for the most part, accepted this and enjoyed the sensation, much like Blake had done when he had massaged her ears.

"We can't make a big deal out of it though." Ruby said, wistfully. "I hope she's ok. But how are YOU doing?" she asked, turning to face Jet.

"Me? I'm fine." Jet said, pulling away slightly.

"You're not. Your wings are stiffer than they normally are, your usual warmth isn't there, and the stress is starting to get to you." Ruby said, still holding Jet's hand.

Jet sighed. "It's not that." he whispered, trying and failing to sound comforting. "You can read me like a book where others can't, it seems, but it's the fact that you all are putting yourselves at risk just to help me. I'm not worth it."

At his words, small tears appeared at Ruby's eyes.

"That's not true." she said, pulling Jet into a hug, his warmth still not emitting. "You're worth every bit of it to me."

"And to us." Weiss had sat down next to the couple, and Jet raised his head, Ruby still refusing to let go. "You're a friend to all of us that are here, Jet."

"Yeah." Yang and Blake had also joined them. Ruby could tell Jet was resisting his own tears, but his walls were stronger than hers, and he held, despite the black tears threatening to appear apparent in his eyes.

"It eezn't just zem." Nouvelle said, as she and Izzet sat down on Jet's other side.

"People are here for you." Penny said, also joining them.

"You see?" Ruby asked, as she finally let go of Jet. "We all care about you. You aren't alone."

Jet's emotions finally broke free of the dark cage he'd placed around them. Tears flowed freely as Jet's will finally broke, and he hugged Ruby, who hugged him back.

"Ruby. Everyone." Jet sobbed. "Thank you."

The others simply embraced the couple in a group hug. Ruby was happy for her lover, for he'd finally come to realise the true value of their bonds, and realised that in this moment, nothing could compare to the strength of affection she felt for him.

This moment was short lived, however, as without warning, a sound of helicopter blades chopping the air outside the cave had started to flow into the cave. All eight of them looked up in horror, and got up, before retrieving their weapons. They had been found!

"Well… damn." Jet muttered, wiping his eyes and summoning Midnight Rose.

From out of nowhere, guns pointed at the group from the mouth of the cave. The androids surrounded them, all guns pointed at Jet. From outside, Ironwood's voice rang out.

"Jet. You are to either lower your weapon or be terminated. The group surrounding him: you are to do the same, but you may walk freely. Any that attempt to aid him will meet the same fate."

"We have to fight them!" Ruby said, and the group raised their weapons in agreement.

"Stop!" Jet shouted. "Ironwood. If you can hear me, I will turn myself in, but I demand one thing for my peaceful return, that any and all charges against Team RWBY and the rest of Team LIJN as well as Penny are unconditionally cleared, as well as the location of Lilac, as she is not present here."

"That can be arranged, and Lilac is with us." Ironwood's reply sounded out, and Ruby looked at him in disbelief. Was he really giving up?

"What are you thinking?" Ruby asked. "I'm not going to lose you!"

"I'm sorry." Jet replied, before Ruby felt something lightly graze the back of her neck. Before she could work out what it was she fainted, and the others met the same fate, even Penny.

Jet then lowered his weapon and allowed his arms to be cuffed before the androids brought him to Ironwood, along with the now sleeping teammates. He felt bad about betraying them like this and using his sleep poison, something he'd copied from his old mentor, but he couldn't bear to see them suffer like this anymore.

He looked up into Ironwood's snarling face, and paid him a look of defiance.

"Save it, sir." he said. "You can just send me straight to the prison."

"You'll be locked up, yes, but I want to know why you willingly murdered an ENTIRE team of hunters and huntresses first." Ironwood said, with no limit put on the sternness of his voice.

Jet sighed. "As I said before, save it. You'll have plenty of time to do that in the questioning room."

Ironwood could not get any more from him, and resolved that Jet would get his comeuppances when they got to the interrogation room.

* * *

As Jet was thrown into his cell in the vale police department by two android guards, without any weapons to take, Ironwood gazed down into Jet's still defiant eyes, emerald brilliance contrasting with his dark look.

"We'll have plenty of time to talk." he merely said, before closing the automatic door, which locked in place. Jet surveyed the small cell, a small bed, a toilet, and no way out. There were windows into the other cells, though, and as he pushed himself up from having been thrown, he gazed upon the figure in the cell next to him.

"Finally, someone to talk to." Roman Torchwick said as he rose into a sitting position, not making eye contact with Jet. "What you in here for?"

Jet considered his words, and noticed a cut had opened up where he'd hit the floor.

"Murder." he finally growled.

_"Which we were manipulated into committing._" Flux growled inside Jet's head.

**To be continued...**


End file.
